The first instalment went under the hammer in May, offering a representative selection of the
factory’s full production span and it met with a pretty lukewarm response with just over half the lots getting away. The narrowness of the Berlin market, the weakness of the German economy and the size of some of the estimates were all cited as factors that had a bearing on results last May. Little has changed in the intervening period.
Part two, offered on October 8, covered the same range and met with an even cooler reception, with just 42 per cent of the 155 lots changing hands for a total of £155,580.
As in May, the highest price was paid for a pair of Royal gold ground wine coolers from the service made for Princess Louise of Prussia on her marriage to Prince Friedrich of the Netherlands. Their decoration again featured various topographical views of Charlottenburg (the view on the example pictured here is the Belvedere in the castle gardens) and they sold for a lower estimate £35,000.
Berlin sees second cool reception
In the same week that their South Kensington rooms offered the first instalments from Margaret Cadman’s mammoth collection Christie’s King Street (19.5/10% buyer’s premium) rooms were busy selling the second part of the Dr KH Wadsack Collection of Berlin porcelain.
