Submitted by aarAdmin on Fri, 07/22/2022 - 00:00
In a testimony to the popularity of quality Royal Worcester porcelain, seven of the top 10 items at Gibson’s Auctions July winter auction were part of the late June Harris collection from the famous English manufacturer.
Although the top selling lot (at $26,840 including buyer’s premium – more than four times its catalogue estimate) was an empire revival giltwood sofa and matching club chairs by Italian designer Gianni Versace (lot 299), Royal Worcester from the Harris collection filled the following four spots – and then all bar one of the last four.
The result was a resounding success for the Harris estate, with the 61 porcelain and furniture items comprising the collection totalling 260 per cent by value as more than 1900 bidders in the auction room, online and on the phone battled it out for the 520 overall sale pieces on offer.
Best of the Royal Worcester was Charles Baldwyn’s 1901 large ewer (lot 2), changing hands for $24,400, followed by Harry Davis’s 1920 lidded potpourri (lot 11) at $19,520.
The same price was achieved for Baldwyn’s large covered urn vase (lot 16) – while Davis featured once more with a 1922 (lot 44) vase that brought $15,860.
Other Worcester results included a 1911 pair of large vases (lot 4), selling for $14,640, and a 1914 pedestal vase (lot 3 - $13,420), both by John Stinton, and a 1901 lidded Baldwyn potpourri (lot 15 - $12,200).
Remaining top 10 items featured a monumental Melbourne-based Kim Moir Chinese Chippendale style cabinet (lot 417), bespoke for Stuart Rattle Design, that sold for $15,860, and a 1782 set of eight George III sterling silver armorial dinner plates by Andrew Fogelberg & Stephen Gilbert of London (lot 283) which changed hands for $19,520.
A prominent Melbourne interior designer, Rattle was murdered in December 2013 by his partner Michael O’Neill who was then jailed for 18 years.
