HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — An early 19th-century pearlware figure was the surprise performer when 200 lots from the Flower collection were offered by Lion & Unicorn on August 27.
This 8in (2cm) high figure of a Scotsman in traditional attire alongside a hunting dog is known as the Deer Stalker and follows a contemporary print of the same title. Like most pieces from this period, it is unmarked, but it is thought to have been made circa 1820 in the Staffordshire pot bank of Obadiah Sherratt. A scarce and popular model known from a number of premier Staffordshire pottery collections, it was modestly estimated at $100-200 but realized $3,100 ($3,875 with buyer’s premium).
The property lawyer Edward Flower (1929-2022) and his wife Marilyn (1930-2017) were inveterate collectors. First it was American Impressionism, then artist-signed prints, then British and American art pottery and glass, and, most significant of all, majolica. The 600-piece Flower collection of majolica is being offered by specialists Strawser Auction Group across three sales in Pennsylvania – the first held on August 23. Some 61 lots of English pottery was sold by Doyle New York in December.
Leading this Floridian segment of the Flower collection at $4,100 ($5,250 with buyer’s premium) was a Charles Vyse (1882-1971) Punch & Judy figure group dating to circa 1928. This 12in (30cm) model of a street musician with his dog in front of the traditional puppet theater booth is typical of the slip-cast figure of everyday Londoners that Vyse — a Staffordshire potter through and through — made at the studio he established with his wife Nell at Cheyne Walk in Chelsea from 1919.
Another version of this model sold for £8,000 (roughly $10,000) at Bonhams in November 2006, while more recently, in January 2019, one brought £6,600 (about $8,300) at Henry Adams Auctions in Chichester.
