A GEORGE II SILVER COFFEE-POT, MARK OF PAUL DE LAMERIE, 1738 (£3.5-4.5 million) © Christie’s Images Limited 2013. (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: IT WAS UNSOLD
THE most important coffee pot ever at auction comes up at Christie’s London in The Exceptional Sale on July 4. The Rococo masterpiece by Paul de Lamerie (1688–1751) – the greatest silversmith working in Britain in the 18th century – is expected to become the most valuable piece of English silver ever to be sold at auction. The George II silver coffee-pot was created in 1738, for a successful merchant and is now estimated at £3.5-4.5 million. It was the centrepiece of the British Silver exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum in New York.
Lamerie’s works have been prized for 250 years. He was apprenticed to his fellow Huguenot Pierre Platel in 1703, becoming free of his master in 1711. Within six years he was described as the King’s Silversmith. This coffee-pot was commissioned by London based trader and fellow Huguenot Sir John Lequesne. As a child, Lequesne came to Britain as a refugee with his younger brother, fleeing Rouen like so many of his fellow Protestants.
The first London coffee house was opened in 1652 by a member the English Levant company which traded with Turkey. From the coffee house came the Gentleman’s Clubs and City institutions such as the insurance market Lloyds of London.
UPDATE: The Exceptional Sale evening auction realised £14,990,450 selling 69% by lot and 79% by value. The top price was paid for the Maharaja of Patiala’s banqueting service which realised £1,965,875, setting a world record price for an English dinner service sold at auction.