Maine Antique Digest April 2015

Maine Antique Digest, April 2015 9-D

- FEATURE -

“

Gentleman’s Library” sales held by Bonhams

rarely contain many books, but they do present an

eclectic mix of material that has, in part at least, male

slanted appeal, even if much of the material is not

quite the sort of thing one might expect to find in a

real gentleman’s library.

A silver-plated and stained wood beef warming/serv-

ing trolley, for example?

Bearing the name Christofle of Paris on two little

plaques, the trolley (seen below left

)

is of the type I

remember seeing for the first time as a young man when

taken out to lunch in a well known but even then rather

old-fashioned London restaurant—though at the time I

was rather overawed by the whole event and assumed

that in such elevated dining circles this was how “Roast

Beef, Yorkshire Pud, and Two Veg” was always served.

The domed roll-back cover opens to reveal a movable,

shaped-rectangular warming plate with two recessed

receivers. A fold-out plate-arm can be seen and slung

underneath is a tray for the carving utensils. In the latest

of these catch-all Knightsbridge sales, held January 27

and 28, it sold for a double estimate $22,684.

The fire bell seen far right bears the crowned cypher

of King George V and the legend “A.M. / 1936,” for Air

Ministry—but it is where this fire bell was used in 1940

that gives it its special appeal. It hung in the fire station

at RAF Biggin Hill and was probably in almost daily

use during the Battle of Britain, either to warn of enemy

attacks on England’s most celebrated airfield at the

time or to herald the return of the battered and damaged

Hurricanes and Spitfires of “The Few,” those brave

young men whose gallant efforts in seeing off the Luft-

waffe were so critical to Britain’s survival in the early

stages of World War II.

The bell was actually sold in an earlier “Gentle-

man’s Library” sale, in 2007, when (with dollar/sterling

exchange rates very different) it reached $11,280. This

time, the price was $7185, but the bell was being sold

to benefit the Spitfire Flight Scholarship for wounded

ex-servicemen.

Sold for $12,290 in the 964-lot Knightsbridge sale

was the Edwardian tortoiseshell and silver piqué five-

piece desk set illustrated above left

Bearing the 1904-

05 marks of William Comyns of London, its component

parts are a table mirror, in which a gentleman could I

suppose cast an admiring eye over his carefully waxed

moustache; a carriage clock; a waisted blotter; and a

desk stand fitted with cut-glass inkwell, quill pen, and

paper knife. A matching needle box is also part of the

ensemble but does not appear in the illustration. The

silver piqué work includes floral medallions, ribbons,

urns and musical trophies.

On second thought, perhaps this was something

intended for a lady’s desk, but the 21¼" high humidor

seen far right was almost certainly something for the

gentleman and sold for $18,905. Made of coromandel

wood and with silver mounts and handles by George

Betjemann & Sons of London, it also bears a plaque

Beef Will Be Served in the Gentlemen’s Library

The Christofle

beef warming and

carving trolley that

somehow found a

place in a “Gen-

tleman’s Library”

auction and sold

for $22,684 at

Bonhams.

An Edwardian tor-

toiseshell and silver

piqué-work desk set,

sold for $12,290 at

Bonhams.

The Biggin Hill bell, sold for

$7185 in Knightsbridge.

The Edwardian coromandel humidor,

sold for $18,905 in Knightsbridge.

explaining that is was presented

to John Pound on his election in

1904-05 to the post of Lord Mayor

of London, “…as a token of the

respect and high esteem in which he

is held by the whole of the employ-

ees of the firm John Pound & Co.”

Pound, I discover, was a lug-

gage manufacturer and retailer,

but though there is no sensible

reason why it should have been

so, something else not remarked

in the catalogue is the fact that

the maker was one of a family of

specialists in ornamental boxes

and the like whose most famous

member was someone who took no

interest in his family’s business—

the poet, writer, broadcaster, and

irrepressible Englishman Sir John

Betjeman.

The

Katzbalger

Kid

he 1530 woodcut by David de Necker

seen at right shows a German Lands-

knecht captain wearing half-armour who,

as well as the huge sword he rests against

his shoulders, has slung from his waist,

almost like a gun belt, a

katzbalger

broadsword of the type seen in the

other illustration beside it.

Dating from the first half of

the 16th century, this is a rare

survivor of a characteristic type

of Landsknecht broadsword. The

best known example is one

which can be seen in the

K u n s t h i s t o r i s c h e s

Museum in Vienna, but

in Europe there are

others in museums in

Dresden and Zurich

and, in England, in

the Royal Armouries

in Leeds. InAmerica, an

example may be seen in the

Kretzschmar von Kienbusch

collection at the Philadel-

phia Museum of Art.

The example offered by

Bonhams last year as part

of an arms and armour

sale of November 26

was sold at $33,445.

We atM.A.D. do believe

Spring is coming!

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