Things We Covet

The new auction catalogue is available from Dominic Winter Book Auctions, who happen to offer alot more than antiquarian books and maps, as will be seen by the selections below, any and all of which Victoria and I would give our eye teeth to own. From their auction on Wednesday 21 September 2011 commencing at 11.00 a.m., a private collection of antique fans is on offer in Lots 257 to 325. Here are a few examples -





274 *
Card games. Royal Connections Fan, Connections, a New Game at Cards, Invented by their Royal Highnesses the Princess Elizabeth and Dutchess of York, which is played in the first Circles of Fashion, Publish'd as the Act directs Jany 11 1794, by Messrs Stokes, Scott & Croskey, No.19 Friday Strt. London, folding paper fan with leaf engraved in blue with the rules of a card game, and decoration incorporating the four suits, sl. rubbed in places, and a few fox spots, mounted on pierced bone sticks, 24.5cm (9.5ins) Provenance: Lady Schreiber's great grandson. Not in the Schreiber Collection, but the Royal Collection holds an example of this fan.
£700-1000





288 *
Dancing. New Dance Fan for 1795, N.p., folding paper fan, the stipple eng. leaf printed in brown ink, with central wreath motifs containing musical emblems, and musical notation and choreography for sixteen dances, some light toning and rubbing, inscribed in an early hand on the verso "gift of my Br[other] Sollsmans[?] when he left London Mrs. Porters", mounted on wooden sticks, 25.5cm (10ins) Provenance: Lady Charlotte Schreiber's great grandson. Not in the Schreiber Collection. The dances include: "The Guillotine"; "The fall of Robespierre"; "The Prince of Wales's delight"; "Lord Moira's Fancy"; "Linley's Choice"; and "Devonshire Dumplins".
£400-600






294 *
Fortune-telling. Wheel of Fortune, J. Fleetwood, 48, Fetter Lane, c.1805, folding paper fan, the leaf stipple-eng. with four female heads surrounding the wheel of fortune representing 1.Bath Gypsy, 2.Norwood Gypsy, 3.Corsican Gypsy, 4.York Gypsy, with instructions on how to interpret the wheel, and information regarding reading physiognomy and the forecast of perilous days, including fore-telling Napoleon's death, which 'will be sudden either by suffocation or Drowning', folds beginning to split sl. in places, mounted on wooden sticks, 19.5cm (7.5ins) Schreiber Collection 65, p.14 (coloured).
£600-800




304 *
King George III. N.p., c.1787, folding paper fan, the leaf with stipple-eng. port. of George III within gilt and sequined oval starburst frame, with banners either side hand-painted in gilt on a blue ground proclaiming 'Long Live the King', and onlaid flowers and birds with metal thread and sequins (sl. damage to one motif), mounted on bone sticks, 24.5cm (9.5ins) Provenance: great grandson of Lady Charlotte Schreiber. Exhibited: Fan Makers Hall, December 1980, catalogue no. 25. Similar to number 10, p.3 in the Schreiber Collection, but that in Schreiber is uncoloured and without the hand-finishing.
£200-300


You can find, and drool over, all fans on offer here.

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