Specialist Sales – Page 3 – Toovey’s Blog

The Fine Art of Smoking ~ Cigarette Cards at Toovey’s

A.A. Milne first alluded to ‘Smoking as a Fine Art’ in his 1920 essay of that title. He was referring to the pleasure of smoking a pipe and his view came from the perspective of a generation unaware of the health risks of smoking. Indeed, if you believed the advertising of Philip Morris in 1943, you would think smoking was actively good for you, as they claimed ‘tests showed three out of every four cases of smokers’ cough cleared on changing to Philip Morris’. Twenty-three years later, America banned cigarette advertisements on the television.

24 (of 50) Allen & Ginter extra large-size 'The American Indian' cigarette cards, blog.tooveys.com — 24 (of 50) Allen & Ginter extra large-size 'The American Indian' cigarette cards, circa 1888, sold for £1900 at Toovey's

In 1875, almost a century prior to the television advertising ban, an American tobacco company, Allen & Ginter, started issuing cards to advertise their brand and to stiffen the somewhat flimsy cigarette packaging. The British firms of Wills and Players started issuing similar cards in 1887 and 1893 respectively, quickly followed by Ogdens in 1894. These advertising cards soon changed to pictorial images, which could be collected in sets of 25, 50 or even 100, and with this change generations of cartophilists, aka cigarette card collectors, were born. These cards were the hidden gems inside packets and were perhaps the ‘fine art of smoking’.

Sets of cigarette cards were intended to educate and entertain with pictorial fronts and descriptive backs. Some were collected, others played with by children in the street. As a fairly ephemeral item, a surprisingly high number survive in very good condition. It is fair to say that the majority of cigarette cards are common and are not particularly collected, more so now in the days of the internet, when supply can outweigh demand very quickly. The majority of collectors have these common sets already and may upgrade to particularly fine examples but otherwise can afford to be fussy, which reflects in the value of more common material. With this in mind, it should be noted that the majority of sets of cigarette cards are not worth consigning to auction individually and are often sold in collections with other sets.

25 (of 50) Allen & Ginter 'The World's Champions' cigarette cards, blog.tooveys.com — 25 (of 50) Allen & Ginter 'The World's Champions' cigarette cards, sold for £600 at Toovey's

Set of 50 Franklyn Davey & Co 'Birds' cigarette cards, blog.tooveys.com — Set of 50 Franklyn Davey & Co 'Birds' cigarette cards, circa 1896, sold for £550 at Toovey's

There is still a great number of collectors of cigarette cards deriving pleasure and interest from the hobby. The web has created a global market and, like all of Toovey’s auctions, their specialist sales of Paper Collectables are marketed online via www.tooveys.com in addition to currently being marketed via four other major collectors’ websites around the globe. They are even translated into Chinese on a website servicing the antique and collectors’ market across mainland China, an opportunity that would not have been possible twenty years ago. While the internet has clearly shown the commonness of certain sets, it has also highlighted the rarity of others and it is these scarce cards that still attract major attention from traders and collectors alike when they are offered at auction. Cigarette cards continue to sell well at Toovey’s, one of the few auctioneers still holding specialist sales of cigarette cards. The auctions are dates in the diary for everyone interested in the hobby. “Because Toovey’s hold regular auctions, it is easier to keep an eye on the market and adjust estimates accordingly to maintain our excellent sale rate and provide appropriate valuations for our vendors,” says valuer Nicholas Toovey.

25 Taddy 'Royalty Series' cigarette cards, blog.tooveys.com — A set of 25 Taddy 'Royalty Series' cigarette cards, circa 1903, sold for £200 at Toovey's

Toovey’s sale of Paper Collectables on 5th November 2013 included a number of particularly rare cards, causing fireworks between the frenetic bidders, both in the room and online! Specialist dealers and collectors from around the country competed for some of the seldom-seen cards offered at the auction. The cigarette card section boasted an impressive 100% sold rate of all 107 lots in the cigarette card section. The top hammer price of £1900 was achieved for 24 extra-large size Allen & Ginter cigarette cards from the set of 50 ‘The American Indian’, issued circa 1888. While albums of rare-type cards also achieved four figures, the next highest price for a small group was £600 for more Allen & Ginter cigarette cards, this time 25 from the set of 50 ‘The World’s Champions’, issued circa 1888. Some serious scuffing to the backs of a set of 50 Franklyn Davey & Co ‘Birds’, issued circa 1896, did not deter bidders for this extremely rare set and, although it would have been worth considerably more in better condition, it achieved £550. It was not just the early American cards that were hotly competed for; many cards issued by British manufacturers also attracted attention, such as a set of 25 Taddy ‘Royalty Series’ which sold for £200, factoring in the good condition of the set from one of the most collected British cigarette card manufacturers.

Toovey’s hold three specialist sales of Paper Collectables a year, all of which include a good selection of cigarette cards.

Sir Winston Churchill and Chartwell

Winston Churchill and Percy Cox at Chartwell — Percy Cox OBE wearing a flat cap, standing behind Sir Winston Churchill at Chartwell, image from the Percy Cox Archive

Sir Winston Spencer Churchill bought Chartwell in 1922. It was to be home to the Churchill family over the next forty-three years. Toovey’s paper collectables specialist, Nicholas Toovey, has uncovered a small archive of photographs, letters, telegrams and notes, which document the Churchills’ relationship with their friend and estates manager, Percy Cox, OBE. The correspondence and images give a very personal insight into life at Chartwell. The Percy Cox Archive is to be auctioned in November at Toovey’s.

View from Chartwell — The view from Chartwell looking south over the gentle landscape of the Weald of Kent

Churchill’s youngest child, Lady Mary Soames, has written that her father was “captivated by Chartwell from the moment he set eyes on the valley, protected by the sheltering arm of beautiful beech woods… and by the house on the hillside”. As you stand on the terrace at Chartwell, you are presented with a southerly view over the gentle landscape of the Weald of Kent; it speaks of an older England. Unsurprising, then, that this scene so inspired our greatest war-time Prime Minister. Whenever the English find themselves under threat, they turn to their monarch, their church and their landscape; our nation’s identity is bound together by these timeless threads.

An hour from London, Chartwell between the wars hosted a cast which included politicians, scientists and intellectuals. Among these were Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Camrose, the powerful proprietors of The Daily Express and The Daily Telegraph, and T.E. Lawrence and Charlie Chaplin. Famously, debates after dinner would continue into the early hours.

Churchill’s fortune from writing was severely affected by the financial crash of 1929, which signalled the arrival of the Great Depression. Life at Chartwell was always accompanied by financial worries and these coloured Churchill’s wife, Clementine’s view of their country home. By 1946 there were concerns as to whether the Churchills would be able to continue living at Chartwell.

Winston Churchill always felt his roots were at Blenheim, where he was born in 1874. Blenheim had been given to John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough, by Queen Anne and a grateful nation after his victory at Blenheim in 1704. Lord Camrose felt it wrong that Winston Churchill, the great war-time leader, could lose his home. With resonances of the gift of Blenheim, he and a group of wealthy men anonymously purchased Chartwell, on the express understanding that the Churchills would continue living there undisturbed until the end of their days, after which it would be given to the National Trust.

Churchill was always influenced by the long shadow of history, mindful to heed the warnings the past offers to the present. Much of Churchill’s writing was historical. He employed researchers like Maurice Ashley and William Deakin and would draw on their notes. Whether preparing a manuscript for a book or a speech, he liked to work standing and to dictate, cigar in hand, as he paced the room, often late into the night. Once these notes were typed, he would engage in painstaking revision. His method of working gifts his writing with the immediacy of the spoken word and displays irony, rhetoric and an honest passion.

Churchill English-Speaking Peoples — Percy Cox’s set of Winston Churchill’s A History of the English-Speaking Peoples

Secure in his beloved Chartwell, he continued to write, working on his multi-volume war memoirs and his four-volume A History of The English-Speaking Peoples. The Percy Cox Archive also includes a first edition set of A History of The English-Speaking Peoples, published between 1956 and 1958, which has presentation inscriptions to Percy Cox. The worldwide syndication of these works made Winston Churchill a very wealthy man and all concerns about money vanished. Along with numerous acts of quiet generosity, it enabled Churchill to buy Chartwell Farm and a number of neighbouring farms. Nicholas Toovey comments, “The Percy Cox Archive relates to this post-war period and illustrates the fondness and respect in which the family held him. In particular, it casts light upon Mr Cox’s relationship with Winston and Clementine Churchill and their daughter Mary. Letters relating to the management of Churchill’s estates and invitations to dine at Chartwell and to attend Mary’s wedding with Lord Soames, together with photographs of Churchill and others, provide a very personal and poignant insight into their lives.”

The Percy Cox Archive contains some fifty items and is estimated to realise between £6000 and £8000. It will be auctioned at Toovey’s as part of our specialist sale of Paper Collectables on 5th November 2013. For more information, visit www.toovey’s.com or telephone 01903 891955.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 30th October 2013 in the West Sussex Gazette.

The Percy Cox Archive at Toovey’s Auctioneers

Advance notice of a fascinating archive to be sold at Toovey’s Fine Art and Antique Auctioneers.

Lot 3271. Winston Churchill's presentation copies to Percy Cox

Toovey’s Specialist Sale of Paper Collectables includes The Percy Cox Archive. This interesting archive of material relating to the Churchill family will be sold at Toovey’s Spring Gardens auction rooms in West Sussex. The archive will be offered in two lots as follows:

Lot 3271. CHURCHILL, Winston Leonard Spencer. A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. London: Cassell and Company Ltd., 1956-1958. First edition, 4 vols., 8vo (242 x 152mm.) Occasional maps. (Some spotting.) Original cloth (extremities lightly bumped). Provenance: Percy Walter Cox (presentation inscriptions signed by the author to front-free endpaper of vols. I & II, signature to half-title of vol. III and presentation inscription to preliminary blank of vol. IV); and thence by descent. Note: part of The Percy Cox Archive.

Lot 3272. THE CHURCHILL FAMILY. – Sir Winston Leonard Spencer CHURCHILL (1874-1965), Clementine Ogilvy Spencer CHURCHILL, Baroness SPENCER-CHURCHILL (1885-1977), Mary SOAMES, Baroness SOAMES, and others. A small archive of photographs, telegrams, autograph letters, signed letters, notes and cards, most relating to the Churchill family’s relationship with Percy Cox, O.B.E., circa 1945-1974. Provenance: Percy Walter Cox and thence by descent. Note: Percy Cox (1888-1975), was the Estates Manager at the Churchills’ home, Chartwell, in Kent in the late 1940s and the 1950s. This interesting archive throws some light on Mr Cox’s work for Sir Winston Churchill and the personal esteem in which he and his wife were held by Winston, his wife, Clementine, and their youngest daughter, Mary. Further details on the contents of this archive are available on request.

Rococo ~ a Genre Pittoresque

A George III Rococo gilt-framed wall mirror with shell surmount and fabulous birds.

Fashion in our own times often seems to be driven in a reactionary way, as one style supplants another. It is perhaps surprising to reflect that this is not just a modern phenomenon. In early 18th century France the style which was to become known as ‘Rococo’ developed in reaction to the Baroque that preceded it. There is a playful quality to the Rococo. Here the classical gives way to decorative motifs drawn from nature and in England even the influences of Chinese and Gothic taste are sometimes incorporated.

The Edict of Nantes was passed by Henry IV of France in 1598 to bring to an end the French Wars of Religion, which had raged between Catholics and Protestants in the second half of the 16th century. It granted French Protestants, often known as Huguenots, far-reaching rights to work in all spheres of civil and state life. Although it brought a form of peace to France, Huguenots continued to face hostility and prejudice in what remained a predominantly Catholic country. The edict also had a weakening effect on the French monarchy. In 1685 Louis XIV, the Sun King, famous for his extravagant court at Versailles, revoked the Edict of Nantes and later sought to force Huguenots to convert to Catholicism. Huguenot craftsmen left France in large numbers, taking refuge in Protestant countries like England, Holland and Switzerland. In this country they had a profound effect on the life of our nation. For example, the first Governor of the Bank of England, Sir John Houblon, and several of his directors were of Huguenot origin. They also brought the influence of French tastes and styles.

It is difficult to determine where the weighty Renaissance Baroque of Louis XIV’s reign ends and the Rococo begins in France, as one grew out of the other. The term ‘Rococo’ is a 19th century creation, a combination of ‘rocaille’, referring to shellwork, and ‘barocco’, a term first used in a rather disparaging way to describe the outmoded Baroque style in the early 18th century. It was not until the 1940s that Rococo assumed its present association with this style.

In 1715 Louis XIV died, leaving his five-year-old great-grandson as heir to the French throne. He would later become Louis XV, when he had reached maturity. The French Regency under Philippe, the Duc d’Orléans, lasted until 1723. The Régence style marked a new phase in the development of the French Rococo and by the 1730s it had developed into the ‘genre pittoresque’, which saw rocky caves, dragons and waterfalls, embellished by shells, bocages and putti, employed in romantic compositions which delight in their playful and spirited designs. Major exponents included Nicolas Pineau (1684-1754) and Juste-Aurèle Meissonier (1695-1750).

By the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714), England’s furniture-making industry had found its own and particular voice. By the 1720s in London, it was concentrated around St. Paul’s Churchyard and Palladianism was the predominant taste. Its restrained classical lines and proportions were inspired by the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580), who himself was influenced by Greek and Roman architecture from classical antiquity. Palladianism was expressed beautifully in this country by the extraordinary architect Inigo Jones (1573-1652). William Kent (1685-1748), under the patronage of Lord Burlington at Chiswick House and British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole at Holkham Hall in Norfolk, continued in the Palladian style. Indeed, Holkham Hall is perhaps Kent’s most complete expression of the Palladian taste and, to my eye, one of the finest houses in England. In 1735 William Hogarth founded the St. Martin’s Lane Academy in London. Influenced by the French Régence and in reaction to the restraint of Palladianism, the Academy was chiefly responsible for the promotion of the Rococo style in London. The importance of nature in ornament and the beauty of the serpentine line were inculcated in a generation of furniture makers by teachers like Louis-François Roubiliac. As the furniture-making industry in London gravitated towards St. Martin’s Lane from St. Paul’s Churchyard, it increasingly brought cabinetmakers into the sphere of influence of the Academy and the Rococo style was quickly assimilated. Anti-French sentiments in the mid-18th century led to an anglicising of the Rococo taste. The English Rococo taste is typified by its use of asymmetrical ‘C’ scrolls, cartouches and acanthus leaf foliage in combination with rockwork, animals and naturalistic trees. The George III Rococo giltwood and gesso-framed wall mirror illustrated, with its shell surmount, rockwork frieze, scrolls, foliage and fabulous birds, captures much of this taste. By the 1750s, both Chinese and Gothic influences had been added to the Rococo decorative vocabulary. The Gothic taste was popularised by Sir Robert Walpole’s son Horace and his famous Strawberry Hill Gothic villa, which he built at Twickenham between 1749 and 1776.

Pierre Langlois commode — An early George III kingwood parquetry and marquetry commode of serpentine bombé form, attributed to Pierre Langlois, auctioned at Toovey’s for £160,000.

The influence of French taste is clearly evident in the early George III kingwood parquetry and marquetry commode illustrated, attributed to the celebrated French cabinetmaker Pierre Langlois. The commode is very similar to a pair of commodes commissioned by William Craven, 6th Baron Craven (1738-91) for Benham Park. The Craven commodes were attributed to Pierre Langlois, in association with the bronze-caster and gilder Dominique Jean, in a series of articles published in ‘Connoisseur’ magazine by Peter Thornton and William Reider, 1971-72. Pierre Langlois established himself as one of the leading cabinetmakers in London while trading from his premises at 39 Tottenham Court Road between 1759 and 1781. His clients included many important figures of the time, including the 4th Earl of Bedford for Woburn Abbey and Horace Walpole. The commode was banded in palisander, the top inlaid with ribbon-tied summer flowers within a stiff-leaf cartouche, flanked by two flower sprays. The sides and two doors were inlaid with swagged summer flowers, ribbon bows and moths, while the front projecting corners, apron and feet were decorated with ormolu shell and acanthus-leaf scroll mounts and sabots. The interior was fitted with three palisander-fronted drawers and Rococo-shell handles. The carcass and shaped apron were supported by outswept tapering bracket feet. The commode was auctioned at Toovey’s for £160,000.

George III giltwood wall mirror — A George III giltwood and gesso-framed wall mirror, auctioned on Friday 11th October 2013

In the October Specialist Furniture Auction Toovey’s offered a collection of fine 18th century English furniture, consigned for sale by The Royal College of Radiologists in London. Highlights includes a number of gilt-framed Rococo wall mirrors. The example illustrated sold within estimate for £1200.

For more information on Toovey’s specialist furniture sales click here.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 9th October 2013 in the West Sussex Gazette.

Rare Stamp in Toovey’s Auction

3050 in Toovey's Specialist Stamp Auction — Lot 3050. A 1967 Flowers 4d phosphor unmounted mint, agate omitted, SG719pd, with rare error

For stamp collectors, rare and error postage stamps are always among the highest prized. Toovey’s Sale of Paper Collectables includes one such rarity, a 1967 Flowers 4d phosphor mint stamp with the rare error of having the agate omitted, SG719pd. Tom Pierron in his book ‘Catalogue of Great Britain stamp errors and varieties‘ tells the story behind this rarity, ‘A couple of lady pensioners on holiday in the West Country bought all known copies of the error for use as postage. They split all blocks bar one and lightly stuck the majority to postcards… One was posted before the error was spotted. The fate of the postally used copy is unknown. The only known block of four is folded and the top right stamp has a blunt perforation.’

It is probably fair to say that in the second half of the 20th Century very few stamps have significant value unless they carry a rare variant, flaw or error, like this example. This stamp carries a pre-sale estimate of £1200-1800 and will be offered for sale on the 6th August.