Just to interrupt our series on Jane Austen and her religion for a moment, it has just been brought to my attention that the Blue John ornaments I wrote about in a previous post, Robbing Derbyshire of its Petrified Spars, made very interesting prices when they went up for auction this summer at Tennants salesrooms in Yorkshire.
Blue John is, as you will no doubt recall, a very beautiful mineral that was found only in Castleton in Derbyshire, and examples of it or items made from it may have been one of the early nineteenth tourist trade items, a ”petrified spar”, that Elizabeth Bennet refers to in Chapter 42 of Pride and Prejudice:
With the mention of Derbyshire there were many ideas connected. It was impossible for her to see the word without thinking of Pemberley and its owner. “But surely,” said she, “I may enter his county with impunity, and rob it of a few petrified spars without his perceiving me.”
A Pair of Ormolu Mounted Blue John Obelisk Candelabra, 19th century, the mounts in the manner of Pierre-Philippe Thomire ©Tennants
The first lot , a pair of Obelisk Candelabra achieved a hammer price of £11,000, which when all buyers premiums were paid, made a total selling price of £13,465.
The second lot, a pair of Blue John Urns….
A Pair of Ormolu Mounted Blue John Campana Shaped Pedestal Urns, 19th century, the mounts in the manner of Pierre-Philippe Thomire ©Tennants
achieved a hammer price of £120,000, and the total price when all tax and premiums were paid was £146,640. Phew……
According to Huon Mallalieu’s report in this week’s Country Life magazine, the auctioneer wished he had reversed the order in which the lots were sold for he considered that the Candelabra were the bargains of the sale. I can only agree….
7 comments
September 4, 2012 at 11:42 pm
cathyallen
Oh, I agree with you and the auctioneer; AND, they are more attractive, to my eye. Useful, I’d say. Very interesting, thank you.
September 9, 2012 at 1:49 pm
imogen88
My goodness, thank you for this result post. I agree with you all too. These things can only become more and more precious too, and rightly so.
September 10, 2012 at 10:07 am
jfwakefield
Amazing prices, eh? Wish I’d inherited my grandmothers Blue John pieces now……
September 10, 2012 at 11:32 am
imogen88
LOL, Julie. How expensive, roughly, a purchase would a spar or two have been in Lizzie’s day? I don’t know if I should already know this from previous discussions, but I can’t remember. This is a fabulous flippant way of saying it, but do you think they really did intend to buy some or was she just referring to what others did when they visited that county? Or would small ones have been sold cheaply, is that what she means, as traditional souvenirs?
September 12, 2012 at 10:00 am
jfwakefield
I have no firm data on prices,but I should imagine it ran the whole spectrum , from cheap and cheerful to the very expensive wares made by Boulton. I’ll be writing more about this next year, in The Year of Pride and Prejudice ;)
September 10, 2012 at 10:05 am
enlightenmentderbyshire
We’ve been keeping an eye on the Blue John auctions and earlier this year, one of the (or possibly ‘the’) biggest ever Blue John vase was sold at Sotheby’s in New York for an eye watering $338,500…..
http://enlightenmentderbyshire.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/could-this-be-one-of-the-biggest-blue-john-vases-ever-made/
September 10, 2012 at 10:34 am
jfwakefield
Oh, but its sooooo beautiful,especially when lit internally…If a lottery win comes my way…..Thanks for commenting Anna( and I know I still owe you an email with images!)