Featured Micro Mosaic

Micro mosaic. Any advice on auction houses or other avenues that are reputable and established would be very much appreciated. I hope this post is allowed but if not my apologies and please delete it.

 

I don't know what the heck it is...where it is ...whether or not it's an antique .....so I'm unable to suggest an auction house who may deal in such a thing...!

 

I've had a broken down computer that is being repaired and trying to do this off my phone so I apologize. It is an Italian micro Mosaic on a box. The Box itself is made out of Italian granite. The metal is gold. It is 2.5" x .5" in height.The image is of the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, Rome . It is from approximately 1800. The scene includes the Tivoli waterfalls and the arches are from a bridge built in approximately 100 BC. Auction prices since 2016 range from $5,000 to $18,000. I would like to know experiences of other members Who Sold higher-end items and if they used an auction or if they tried to sell directly to dealers or other collectors or another Avenue that I haven't thought of or don't know about yet. I'm sorry this post is fairly vague but just want to sell this item and looking for any knowledge possible in order to minimize chances of something going wrong. Learn from other members experiences possibly...

 

If this is what you have ...

https://www.tmgbdecarts.com/blog-1/tmgbdecartscom/blog-2

https://www.sothebys.com/de/auctions/ecatalogue/2015/of-royal-and-noble-descent-l15306/lot.3.html

Nice.

Any auction house that is selling like-items will have the eye of the high-end buyers.

Have you found any reproductions on the internet?

James.

 

Wow, these are awesome works of art ...
https://www.teleartetv.it/en/shop-gallery-micromosaic/

 

No, I haven't seen the reproductions but there's usually reproductions of everything. This box belongs to a friend of mine who I'm trying to help out downsizing her collections. She worries about her kids not knowing what is there monetarily if something was to happen to her. She had a family who dealt in high-end auctions for half of her life but not in many years now though. Provenance can be shown on many of these items that she wishes to liquidate and have been in her possession or of family members for many many years.

 

Wow they are aren't they? Thank you very much for that information. There were a couple very similar to hers but I didn't see an exact match but I guess since they were made individually that there would be similarities and differences in all of them. She is a lady in my antique group that I administrate and she's always been such a sweet lady that I agreed to help her if I possibly could. I have no dog in the fight and don't make a nickel off of it but wanted to help out a member if I could. Looks to me like she already found this site that you have so kindly shown me because her wording matches the descriptions of these other items.

 

I think @kyratango knows about these?

 

Ha! What I know is I agree with Linny's description!
I haven't experience of selling these by high end auctions houses, only they now accept only over 10 000 value pieces... (Unless they prepare a thematic sale)
The granite box in the link above was royal provenance, which explains the hammer price well above the estimation.

 

So do I.

I have never seen any either, and given the minute detail, I doubt anyone would be willing to give it a try. The current cost could be higher than the price of an antique piece.

 

I could suggest a UK auction house, but that's no help.

 

That's a very good point. I didn't even think of it that way but that's 100% correct. If I was going to copy something 100% correct. If I was going to copy something oh, it wouldn't be this piece here. Even the people making the reproductions deserve a little high five just for the effort.

 

Actually I believe she's in the UK. I'm in Texas in the United States. So I'm helping her from an extreme distance. In fact she asked about whether it would be more beneficial to sell in the UK or United States and I told her I would do a little asking around and see what I can find for her. From her upbringing around the sales and auctions and family dealing in the antique business, she has some pretty amazing things.

 

I love anything micro-mosaic. Auction houses can be hit or miss. You best avenue is online store front. You might try setting up an account at Chairish. They take a flat 20% but the receive payment before your item leaves. They also arrange shipping which is convenient. You can also try etsy or google micro mosaic boxes and see if where others are selling them. Ebay still has a huge audience but you will be low balled and you have to be careful about fraudulent buyers.

 

Oh, OK, well spotted.

In that case, I'd be contacting Rosebery's in London and Toovey's in Lewes. Both excellent, and won't rip you off. Chairish isn't used in the UK much nor is Etsy for decent old pieces.

If she needs UK help, let me know.

 

I sure thank you but I made a mistake. She is in the US. I don't know what made me think she wasn't but I was wrong. Thanks again for your offer.

 

No problem! Hope it sells well for her.

 

I found this to be extremely interesting ...

 

Good lord! I must be lazy.