Porcelain vase attracts spirited bidding

Press, 13 April 1984, Page 7

Porcelain vase attracts spirited bidding

A Royal Doulton porcelain vase fetched $11,500 at a fine art auction held in Christchurch yesterday. The vase, an early twentieth century piece handpainted by Edward John Raby, had been expected to sell for about $4OOO. It was sold after spirited bidding to a Christchurch art dealer. The auction was held at the Horticultural Hall and was conducted by McCrostie’s, Ltd. The auctioneer, Mr M. H. McCrostie, said the Raby vase was “pretty close” to the highest price paid for a porcelain item at any of the 35 auctions organised by the firm. He said the auction had

gone “extremely well.” Bidding for the porcelains, which were the main feature of the auction, had been particularly good. The paintings had also sold well, he said, in spite of the fact that most were “average.” One painting, “The Pink Terraces,” by an English artist, Charles Blomfield, a well known painter of New Zealand scenery, sold for $4OOO. A painting believed to be an early view of Corsair Bay, by John Gibb, sold for $2400.

Other good prices fetched at the auction were $3BOO for a late Victorian Burslem Doulton vase painted by George White, and $l3OO for

a late nineteenth century 21piece porcelain tea set. A good copy of the volume 1, No. 1 edition of the “Lyttelton Times,” dated January 11, 1851, sold for $BO, and an Abyssinian single-edged curved sword and scabbard fetched $l9O.

Several overseas buyers were present, including a New York buyer who is believed to have bought porcelain for overseas clients.

About 200 people bid for the 469 lots at the auction, which ran from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Paintings, furniture, ceramics, silver and brass ware, clocks, and jewellery were among the items sold.