Nearly 2,000 collectors from across the globe registered to bid for the collection of the late Stanley J. Seeger at Sotheby’s in London on March 5 and 6. So it is hardly surprising that bidders came out in droves to vie for objects collected by Seeger whose taste was eclectic, but always refined. The sale offers everything from dinosaur eggs to a replica of Tutankhamun’s golden throne. Among the pieces sold yesterday were Admiral Lord Nelson’s teapot which made £56,250 over a top estimate of £12,000; a claret jug from the Titanic which made £40,000 over a top estimate of £3,000 and Sir Winston Churchill’s c1880 armchair which made £27,500 over a top estimate of £5,000.
UPDATE: ON the second day of the sale Orson Welles own working copy of the script for Citizen Kane sold for £98,500 over a top estimate of £20,000 and Al Capone’s cocktail shaker made £50,000 over a top estimate of £1,500. The sale concluded with an outstanding total of £7,348,009, well above pre-sale expectations of £3-4.5 million.
Admiral Lord Nelson’s Bachelor Teapot, 1799
A claret jug from the Titanic
Sir Winston Churchill’s Armchair, circa 1880.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for February 4, 2014)