Curiosities

Stylish Deco Lady with Fawn and Borzoi – Designed by Peter Manfredi – Made by Pompeian Bronze, New York – 1920’s.

Simply the most stunning set of original bookends we have had. Exceedingly rare – not included in the key reference by Kuritsky and De Costa.

Based in Brooklyn New York the business registered thirty copyrights for bookends – the last in 1930. Peter Manfredi was their top designer.

Most bookends pairs are either identical or a reflection; rare as with this set to have a different subject for each. Clearly a pair because of the consistent and striking colouring and uniform patina.

Original Pompeian Bronze label to the base of one.

Very intricate designs hard to give them justice in the images. A trifle sign of age, overall in super condition for circa 100 years old.

Large by usual standards – 23 cm high – circa 25 cm in length, hefty 2.7 kg the pair. Dependent on location there will likely be a postage supplement as they pack big for safety.

Extremely Rare design by Peter Manfredi – 1920’s

$840.00

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Botryoidal Goethite – Yaraka Queensland

The mineral Goethite or iron oxy-hydroxide here in a nice botryoidal (resembling grapes) crystal form.

Found in the Yaraka Boulder Opal Field 100km east of Blackhall, Queensland. Last count remote Yaraka had an official population of 20 – they all get along.

Small fist sized weighing 350 gm.

Good lustre to the botryoidal form

$35.00

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Tek Sing Shipwreck Treasure – Dish decorated in Lotus, Lingzhi and Peach – 1822

Qing Dynasty decorated dish recovered by Mike Hatcher from the Tek Sing shipwreck of 1822. Nice condition.

Beautifully decorated with bands of lotus flower around a central spiral and set in alternate designs of lingzhi fungus and fruiting peach. Similar decorations to external rim, potters mark at bottom. Bright and clean. 15cm in diameter 6cm high, weighs 220gm. Retains Nagel auction sticker.

Price $240.00

Bright well decorated treasure from the Tek Sing
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The Tek Sing Shipwreck – Background

The Tek Sing (Chinese for “Bright Star”’) was a large Chinese Junk which sank in 1822 in the South China Sea at the Belvidere Shoals. She was 50 meters long, 10 metres wide and weighed a thousand tons. Manned by a crew of 200. The great loss of life has led to the Tek Sing being referred to as the “Titanic of the East”.

Sailing from the port of Amoy (now Xiamen), the Tek Sing was bound for Jakarta, with a cargo of porcelain goods and 1,600 Chinese immigrants. After a month of sailing, Captain Lo Tauko took a shortcut through the Gaspar Straits and ran aground on a reef and sank in 100 feet of water.

The next morning and English East Indiaman captained by James Pearl sailing from Indonesia to Borneo passed through the Gaspar Straits. He found debris from the sunken Chinese vessel and survivors. They managed to rescue 190 people.

In 1999, marine salvor Mike Hatcher discovered the wreck. His crew raised what has been described as the largest cache of Chinese porcelain ever recovered. It was auctioned by Nagle in Stuttgart, Germany the following year

$160.00

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Daphnis et Chloe By Longus with aquarelles by G. P. Jornard – Surely the world’s prettiest book

Published on the Champs-Elysees, Paris in the 1920’s by Editions Nilsson.

This superb book contains six mounted watercolours (aquarelles) that match the quality of the watercolour adorning this beautiful onion skin paper front cover.

Small quarto, 154 pages. This book often found as effectively a soft cover – this copy hard bound, pretty basic half red cloth over brown papered boards, top edge gilt. Whilst we say basic it’s done a good job in protecting the aquarelles … the odd bit of spotting in the text. Overall, a very worthwhile copy.

A Greek pastoral novel written by Longus during the second century AD. Based on the island of Lesbos a young couple having been brought up adopted by a goat herder and a shepherd respectively having been abandoned at birth eventually find love. It was a difficult road but it ends well.

The artist was Germaine Paule Jounard, she was a highly respected artist of the period and completed many illustrations particularly for the frencg fashion industry at the time.

What better romantic gift than this

French 1920’s with beauty and style

$190.00

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French Miniature Furnace Microscope – c1850-60

Scarce miniature Mineral or Furnace Microscope attributed to Bertrand, Paris in the Billings Collection pages 37 and 193. The Billings example no 369 on page 193 is identical even down to the circle made on the outer case from running the closing catch around.

Beautifully made, the original mahogany box has a conical dove tail slide cut into its top into which the instrument sits. The brass base screws to the tune stand. There is a square cut in the front that houses a single mirror on a milled head pivot. The stand is cut away for the fixed circular stage. At the top of the stand there is a screw in cylinder into which the body tube slides. There is an outer casing which slides downward to become a slide holder. The objective and ocular screw in.

This is a collector’s item – it is probably one of the smallest practical microscopes ever made, is extremely well made and in as perfect a condition one could expect for its age. The case is undamaged with a great patina.

Case dimensions approximately 85mm x 45mm x 35mm. Microscope height 75mm base diameter 25mm.

Perfect collectable miniature microscope – over 150 years old.
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$260.00

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Mining Medal – Centenary of The Deep Navigation Coal Mine – 1979.

The Deep Navigation Colliery was a major underground mine at Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. It was the deepest of all South Wales cola mines. It produced high quality “steam coal” which powered the Mauretania and the Lusitania in successful Blue Riband attempts for the fastest Atlantic crossing.

Opened in 1879 after much effort sinking shafts, many lives were lost. Throughout its life it suffered from huge amounts of water ingress and massive pumps were used constantly to keep it manageable. The quality of the coal ensured its profitability until the early 1990’s when the geology became more challenging and it was closed and the area reclaimed as public sports fields.

This medal was given to each miner in the workforce in 1979 at the 100-year anniversary of the mine opening – so about 500-600 were likely struck. A fine example, gilt finished, haunched miner figures to both sides – one an early 19thC miner with mandrel and Davey lamp, the other a modern miner with safety helmet vs cloth cap. 40 mm diameter fine condition, high relief 25 gm.

Scarce Coal Mining Commemorative

$60.00

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Stylish Deco Lady with Fawn and Borzoi – Designed by Peter Manfredi – Made by Pompeian Bronze, New York – 1920’s.

Botryoidal Goethite – Yaraka Queensland

Tek Sing Shipwreck Treasure – Dish decorated in Lotus, Lingzhi and Peach – 1822

Daphnis et Chloe By Longus with aquarelles by G. P. Jornard – Surely the world’s prettiest book

French Miniature Furnace Microscope – c1850-60

Mining Medal – Centenary of The Deep Navigation Coal Mine – 1979.

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