A couple of pieces of Staffordshire pottery set the Banbury rooms of Holloway’s buzzing back when online bidding took off.
"I've never known anything like
it," said auctioneer James Lees. "Online buyers took a number of
the lots and the others were almost all propelled by online
underbidders."
What caused the stir was a tranche of
79 pieces of early Staffordshire and provincial pottery figures
from Lady Russell's collection, most of which was dispersed by
Christie's last autumn.
At
Holloway's on March 27, all bar two lots from the collection
sold, totalling around £44,000 against a predicted high-estimate of
around £26,000.
Although buying was shared between
private collectors and the trade, the two late 18th century items
pictured here both went to one of Britain's leading dealers in
early Staffordshire.
The 9in (23cm) Whieldon-type,
manganese glazed Staffordshire parrot, estimated at £800-1200, sold
at £2000, while the 8¼in (21cm) creamware standing cockerel took
£1600.
Other high four-figure Staffordshire
sellers from the collection included a set of four, 6¼in (16cm)
tall early 19th century figures emblematic of the seasons, offered
with a similar figure of Venus, which took £1900 (estimate
£400-500) and a pair of Victorian pottery black and white,
lop-eared rabbits, made to an unusual model 4¾in (12cm) wide, which
took £1700 (estimate £500-700).
The buyer's premium was 20%
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