PORTLAND VASE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19610, 4 May 1929, Page 15

PORTLAND VASE.

WITHDRAWN FROM AUCTION. (BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.) LONDON, May 2. There was a dramatic surprise at Christie's saleroom to-day, when the famous Portland Vase was put up to auction. In 33 seconds the bidding had reached 39,000 guineas. It was then understood by the big crowd that tne vase had been sold. A woman wanted to know the name of the purchaser, as she said the British public were keenly interested in the sale of the vase. The auctioneer did not reply, and only later was it made known that the vase had been withdrawn. Buyers from Africa and the Continent had been keen bidders against British buyers.

[The celebrated Barberini, of Portland, vase, after resting in the British Museum for 119 years, was offered for sale by order of the Duke of Portland, whose' ancestor, the fourth Duke, deposited the vase in the museum in 1810. The vase came into the possession of the third Duke of Portland in 1786, for £1029. It was wantonly broken on Feruary 7th, 1845, by a man who gave the name of William, Lloyd, a scene-painter. Lloyd was fined £3 for "breaking the glass shade over the vase." The pieces of the vase were joined together by a Mr Doubleday with extraordinary skill.]