Record price for silver ‘masterpiece’
NZPA London. A world record price of almost £0.5 million has been paid for a single piece of silver at Sotheby’s in London. The Duke of Northumberland Shield of Achilles went for £484,000 (about SNZI.O4 million), including the buyer’s premium, more than double the previous record for a single piece of silver, which stood at £185,000 ($NZ396,000).
Described as a masterpiece, and possibly the most important piece of English silver made in the Nineteenth Century, it was bought by two London dealers, Armitage and Koopman, who were bidding together. The shield, 91cm in diameter, weighing 6300 z and one of only four silver gilt examples in existence, was modelled by John Flaxman from decriptions given in the Eighteenth book of Homer’s Iliad.
Bidding started at £50,000 and took less than
two minutes to reach £400,000 — four times the price Sotheby’s had estimated it would fetch.
A Swiss dealer stayed in the chase until the shield went for £440,000, which with the premium meant the price to the buyer was £484.000.
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Press, 11 May 1984, Page 21
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175Record price for silver ‘masterpiece’ Press, 11 May 1984, Page 21
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