An Important Collection of Apostle Spoons Fetches £32,000 at Auction
On Monday 22nd September, Fellows Auctioneers held their quarterly auction of Silver & Plated Ware, which featured just under 700 lots. Over 300 bidders from 17 countries registered for live bidding online, and a full saleroom along with plenty of telephone bidders ensured the sale was a resounding success.
This sale included everything from curious novelties to collectable items from celebrated silversmiths, and the auction achieved a final hammer price of over £118,000.
Undoubtedly the auction’s star lots – a collection of Queen Mary I through to Charles II Apostle Spoons in our Cutlery and Flatware section (featured as Lots 481 - 490) – were of great excitement to avid spoon collectors. The collection of eight apostle spoons fetched an impressive total of £32,000 on auction day.
It is quite rare to come across a pre-Elizabethan spoons, as such Lot 486 – a Queen Mary I silver Apostle spoon, hallmarked 1556, with fig shaped bowl and Master Apostle terminal with pierced nimbus – is of notable significance. More so as its maker, Nicholas Bartholomew, was one of the most important spoon makers of the period; identified by the maker’s mark of a crescent enclosing a mullet on the back of the spoon’s stem. The lot was estimated at £2,000- £3,000. However, its unique significance encouraged a flurry of online bids matched by hot competition in the saleroom, resulting in a final hammer price of £10,800.
Lot 484 was another of the highly prized and contested apostle spoons; a James I silver Apostle spoon hallmarked York 1623, making it a particularly unusual example. This lot was estimated at £1,000 - £1,500. However, the rare York hallmark attracted many interested parties and contributed to the hammer price of £3,100.
Naomi Wilson, head of Fellows Silver Department, comments, “It is very rare to see such an extensive collection come to the auction market, so it was a very memorable and enjoyable sale.”
Fellows’ next auction of Silver & Plated Ware will take place on Monday 15th December. If you would like to consign any items into this auction please contact Naomi Wilson on 0121 212 6302 or email naomi@fellows.co.uk.
