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Antique Silver Spoons

John Norie Caddy Spoon Collection Sale Review

On April 20th 2004, a packed saleroom greeted the Woolley & Wallis auctioneer at this highly important sale; The John Norie Collection of Caddy Spoons. When will there ever be a more important caddy spoon collection being sold than the one of the author of the definitive guide to the object?

The book, "Caddy Spoons: An Illustrated Guide", had obviously inspired many a collector and each one was intent on gaining at least one example to add to their collection, after all these were the actual ones illustrated!

It was a sign of things to come when lot 1 (nine mother of pearl examples – see plates 107 & 108 in the book) went under the hammer for £1326 (inc. 20.56% buyers premium) against an estimate of £100-150. This caused a nervous murmur around the saleroom as each buyer realised that they would need to dig deep into their pockets.

The pre-sale estimates, (which realistically only provided the comfort of knowing that the spoons were there to be sold without reserve), out-stripped their top price on virtually every occasion, sometimes embarrassingly so e.g. the estimated £300-400 for a Edward Farrell spoon of London 1820 depicting a Chinese tea purveyor "Giant Mandarin" (plate 10b) fetched £4000 + premium (£4822).

By the end of the sale 19 single lot entries exceeded the £1000 + premium (£1206) hammer price. Highlights including buyer’s premium were;

Harebell London 1804 (plate 22d) – £3014

Limpet london 1843 (plate 12d) - £3376

Wild Anemone 1852 (plate 12c) - £3376

The Fisherman 1859 (plate 10e) - £3858

The Swan 1866 (plate 10f) - £2893

Lily Pad 1848 (similar to plate 12e) - £2170

Left hand 1815 (plate 93b) - £1507

3 Omar Ramsden spoons – London 1926 (Plate 16e) - £1808, London 1927 - £1748 , London 1931 (plate 16f) - £3255

The highest price of the day however was reserved for the final lot a beautiful filigree example by Cocks & Bettridge c.1820 (plate 48b) that made a staggering £5546! Surprise of the day must have been an Elkington & Co. electroplated pair that made £1109.

The Scottish Provincial spoons fetched between £400 and £960, several York examples approx. £400 & a bright-cut Cork spoon £675.

Perhaps the only disappointing results were for the two Eagle’s Wings, the 1817 example (plate 92b) made £1326 and the 1865 spoon only £796 (plate 92d). This type usually makes over £2000.

return to John Norie Collection items for sale

04/11/08

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