MR. SALTING'S ART TREASURES

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 31, 5 February 1910, Page 15

MR. SALTING'S ART TREASURES

£40,000 PPBCHAeHJ AT-.OMB &AU&. Stories of the manner Iβ which. Mr. George Salting made hla marrellong collection, which, he bequeathed to the nation, are told by one of Mr. Salting , * oldest friends. , j ▲ wonderful Chin*** trumpet-ahaped vase; now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art In New York, Illustrates the value of the Salting collection, and at the game' time represents one of- the very few mistakes Mr. Salting made—a mistake which: he quickly recognised and regretted to the' last. Some years ago tbia vase *v bought by Mr. SalUng for about «1000. It to three feet in height «nd Is decorated with a 4e-:l sign of red hawthorn upon a black ground, and Is now known to be absolutely unique. Mot knowing that be could Dot obtain another, Mr. Salting yielded to a suggestion that he should pay for an object which.'he greatly desired £2000 in cash and this hawthorn vase, the lattet to be taken In the transaction as werth £2600. Satisfied with his 2SO per cent profit and pleased to get the object he was seeking at the time, Mr. Salting parted with the vase, which was promptly transferred to the collection of a great American buyer an* is now in the New York museum. Its present value exceeds £6000. For a man so nervous and sensitive, the great collector was remarkably bold In the auction room. Fixing beforehand the price he was prepared to pay ax something above a dealer's value, he went steadily up to It, but never beyond. The dealer who, tempted by his belief In Mr. Salting's judgment, topped his best price with an. offer of "guineas" usually found himself with a bad bargain. At the great Spitzer sole in Paris, which he personally attended, Mr. Salting created a record by buying to the* value of at least £40,000. :•■■ ■ -r- ■■■ : ■ :-