Right, there is no way on earth that I am going to be able to do today’s auction justice. This is partly because I am tired (I had to get up at 5.45 am to go to Stonehenge, don’t ask) and partly because it is tomorrow, but mainly because it is just such a vast, sprawling and wonderful beast that it would be impossible to cover all the highlights in one blog post. So this is just a taster, and you really do have to go and look at the catalogue yourself.
The auction in question is the posthumous sale of the collection of Bob Date, who was a dealer in books and ephemera, and clearly blessed with exceptional taste. Along with the collecting gene, clearly, as there is tons of the stuff.
How do I know he had good taste? Well he liked Barnett Freedman, to start with.
Lot 219, est. £150-200
But there’s so much more than just catalogues. How about an accordion folded, peepshow diorama?
Lot 217, est £300-500
Or perhaps an entire archive of more than a hundred items of almost limitless Freedman glory?
Lot 221, est. £2,000-3,000
And there are also posters too, and not just by Freedman either, although he is of course represented.
Lot 846, est. £500-700 (two posters)
And not just by the known posters either. This – which I assume is for the Festival of Britain – is fantastic. If somewhat large.
Lot 911, £1,000-2,000
And there’s plenty of posters by other artists too, scattered throughout the tail end of the auction.
Andrew Power, 1933, lot 864, est. £500-800
Paxton Chadwick, 1933, lot 933, est. £100-150
Dame Laura Knight, lot 927, est. £50-70
And not just posters, but books about posters too, whole lots of them. And books about canals, and trains, and architecture, and books of designs for the Curwen Press. And then there’s the ephemera, which is here in industrial quantities. You could probably start up as a dealer just by buying one lot like this.
A collection of approx. five hundred and forty items, to include: labels; advertising; book plates; packaging; a few postcards; etc., 19th century to modern, largely in fine condition. (Approx. 540)
That’s lot 98, if you’re interested, estimated at £200-300. Although I have no idea how the values will work out tomorrow, it really could go either way. Possibly these are wild under-estimates and there will be a crazed frenzy of buying the like of which I have not seen for a while. Equally, it could go the way of Morphets, and people will be so boggled by the sheer volume of stuff for sale that some things will slip by for almost nothing.
I am, obviously, hoping for the latter as there are one or two things we’ve got our eye on, but I have to say I think it’s a pipe dream. Over the last few days, the estimate on one item I’ve been looking at – a Paul Nash lithograph since you ask – has risen from £150-200, to £500-700. Which means we won’t be getting that, or much else either I should think. But watch this space.
It’s an amazing array. 90+ issues of Gebrauchsgraphic! 1,000+ Swiss travel brochures! I’ve put in 25 bids – some “high”, some low – but I really don’t expect to get anything.
Some things are currently going at five times the estimate, so my own hopes are pretty low…
Having been there on the 2nd day, I came away with not very much, except the feeling that I should have taken two days, a lot of money and a lorry!
Wow, a serious dealer and collector he must have been. And to go along with that there were obviously other serious dealers and collectors there to buy his stuff. A lot of the estimates were being described as “conservative”, while prices went to 10+ times in some cases.
Lucky you, I would have loved to have gone there and seen it in the flesh. And seen all the other buyers.
But even so, I don’t think we could have afforded anything at all. I watched the first part of the auction go past and, as you say, things were going for ten times the estimates, so gave up at that point.