Featured Goose Tureens

And a good defense it is! I'd say.
You know, people that collect fine art for example, paintings or sculpture, display is about all you can do with those objects so i have nothing against it, it's just not something i do personally. Course, i only collect early furniture so it's a bit different in some ways.

 

So, @say_it_slowly , having got all of THAT out of the way, whattaya think about these pots/tureens, would they be used, displayed or both do you think?

 

I knew I'd seen tureens like these previously. I have a John T Dorrance, Jr. 1989 Sotheby's catalog that shows 2 pairs:


The top pair sold for $173k. The bottom pair, which was a marriage from 2 different collections, sold for $93K.

No mention of armorials. I wonder if that helps, or hurts?

I do have a Nelson Rockefeller catalog, Sotheby Park Bernet, 1980, but it is European porcelain so doesn't show anything like this. It does, however, include a Chelsea Pigeon tureen, c1755 (for which I found a photo online) with an estimate (nearly 40 years ago) of $13k-$15K:


That catalog also shows 2 of Meissen dolphin tureens, approximately same date, the one in better condition valued at $8k-$12k (again found a photo online):

This dolphin is actually one from the 1980 sale. It was back on the market in 2008 and sold for about $42k (Christie's photo).

 

Unreal! Pottery people are nuttier than furniture people, if that's possible!

Not a clue! Not even sure what armorials are, coat of arms?

 

more like we're all nuts !!!
& while I don't use most of them, save my 'go to' blades, I handle most every knife in my collection...on a reasonably frequent basis !!

 

my lord that dolfin is butt ugly !!
I'd pass it by at a thrift..........or at least I would have till now !!

 

Armorial: of, relating to, or bearing heraldic arms. Maybe the plural is wrong.

 

I guess you'd have to ask the owners.

What my pedestrian understanding is....porcelains with coats of arms were expensive in their time and were a way to show one's wealth and standing. Services of hundreds of pieces were often used, at least for special occasions, including tureens.

For example, the animal head tureens had nose holes so steam could escape and make a spectacle at the table. Or so I've read.

Foodways and ceramic uses are much researched and knowing that I would be happy to be corrected and educated. (I once hauled my little collection of 18th C punchbowls into a lab so volumes could be measured after the museum associated with the lab wouldn't allow liquid to be put in their bowls. (I get it) )

I believe that coats-of-arms were actually coats worn over armor with identifying symbols for the battlefield. Armorials seems to pertain to them more broadly in definition. But then I don't count on what I think I know.

 

Yeah, well, I think i am gonna pass on that SIS!

WOW, you know a lot about this, i can tell! Although i often see pots at antique auctions, i know ZERO about them. Some go for huge amounts while others not so much but, if my life depended on it i could not tell you why.
I posted these tureens because i was "there" and was stunned by the numbers.

 

I find the numbers stunning too! But then I find some furniture prices equally stunning!

 

True!