Auction Watch

December 20th

On December 20, 2022, Bonhams Skinner Marlborough, MA. will be offering the Flora Rabinovitch collection of Staffordshire blue printed wares. Some of you may recall visiting Flora’s collection during the 2012 annual meeting in Seattle. In addition, there will be subsequent sales including a number of other selections from her vast collection of over one thousand pieces.

Her daughter, Ellen, writes…

The act of collecting has been described by many as a disease. And my mother  would often say “I’ve got it bad”.

I believe that my mother’s collecting started with an appreciation for beautiful objects, pleasing in many ways. She began buying beautiful blue and white Transferware for her mother, sister, and brother, but found it increasingly difficult to part with the pieces she purchased. So much so, that pieces were given as a long-term loan to her family, and in that she knew these pieces always belonged to her.  Over a lifetime of collecting (over 90 years) purchases continued and continued, and soon enough she had thousands of pieces in our home, displayed on the walls and every possible surface, with the overflows stacked up (beautifully I would add).  Mother was not tech savvy, and somehow saw her collections as her computer. With her large pitchers and foot baths, she sorted her papers….bills in the foot bath, receipts in the upright foot bath,  misc. papers in a large jug. And it worked for her. (My nephew was frequently bathed in one of the foot baths!!!)

As children, our ‘playroom’ had blue and white china hanging on the walls. My mother was very good natured, and so the inevitable ‘accident’ frequently happened, but never bothered her.  That developed into saving the broken plate shards and she even created beauty with the shards. (We even found boxes of broken shards packed up for future projects) 

While many outsiders to the world of a collector call it an obsession, but to me, It was her passion. So to all the collectors out there, enjoy your passion, but if you have children, please give them the freedom to pass it on to other collectors. Your collections should be well documented so that your children can understand its value.  The collector’s world is certainly an interesting one.  History is made every day, so be sure that whatever you collect, tell the story and let it become a part of the/your history of the piece. 

For additional information please contact Stuart Slavid at european@bonhamsskinner.com or 508-970-3278.  Online auction catalogue pending.

October 5th, 6th & 7th

Pook’s three day Americana & International Auction on October 5th, 6th, & 7th, includes several collections of Historical Blue Staffordshire, 85 lots in total. A Private Pennsylvania Collection of Historical Blue Staffordshire occupies 57 lots, with both a Lafayette at Franklin’s Tomb tea and coffee service and a MacDonnough’s Victory tea and coffee service, as well as America and Independence plates, platters, and pitchers, and a wide variety of local and New England subjects to include Pennsylvania Hospital, Upper Ferry Bridge over the River Schuylkill, New York From Heights Near Brooklyn, Castle Garden Battery New York, the Landing of Lafayette, Peace and Plenty, Capitol Washington, Mount Vernon Near Washington, and Christianburg Danish Settlement on the Gold Coast Africa. View transferware offerings.