WORLD RECORD FOR GLASS PAPERWEIGHT SMASHED AT BONHAMS IN LONDON
SALAMANDER PAPERWEIGHT MAKES WORLD RECORD PRICE ATBONHAMS FINE GLASS
SALE IN LONDON
Bonhams Fine British & European Glass & Paperweights auction on Wednesday in London on 15th December achieved some record prices in a sale that totalled £574,008 for 355 lots with 87 per cent sold by value.
Besides the strong presence of private collectors and dealers there were also institutions represented, The V&A in London and the Corning Museum of Glass, New York, which secured a number of items in the sale.
Among the paperweights the top item was Lot 243, a rare Pantin magnum salamander paperweight estimated to sell for £15,000 to £20,000 which made £42,000, a world record for a paperweight of this kind.
Two of the highest prices achieved were for items from the Albert Harsthorne collection, Lot 4, an important and early large punch-bowl and cover, circa 1685, estimated to sell for £10,000-15,000, which sold for a sparkling £45,600; and Lot 5, an early English façon de Venise wine glass, circa 1690, estimated to make £2,000-3,000, which sold for £13,200. The Hartshorne Collection which featured 66 lots, sold for a total of £138,000.
Two other sale highlights were the Heemskerk flask, lot 208, which sold for £43,200, the best price achieved for a bottle of this type in recent years, and lot 220, the Sang signed goblet which sold for £16,200. Both prices were well above expectations for these types of glasses.
Simon Cottle, Departmental Head of Glass and Continental Porcelain at Bonhams comments, “As the only international auction house to offer stand alone fine glass sales in the UK it gives me great pleasure to see the growing strength of the fine glass market which once again we lead in Britain having overtaken our competitors in 2007.”
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further four throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston in the USA; and Switzerland, France, Monaco, Hong Kong, Australia and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 50 specialist areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com
