This was emphasised by trade bidding on a 2 3/4in (7cm) high Bow blue and white cup, shown here together with the inscription to the base Elizth Mackly 1764. With a moulded flared top, it was decorated with peonies, lotuses and willows, but it had been broken and restuck and had a large chip to the rim.
Such condition issues suggested why the dealer who consigned it for sale had been able to buy it from a Bournemouth dealer recently for just £5.
Two specialist London dealers bidding by phone on behalf of clients thought more highly of the cup – one of them took it at £1700.
“There are fewer than 40 pieces of dated Bow so the cup represented an exciting find for a collector,” said Mr Axford.
Date is key to £1700 success of a £5 cup
ALTHOUGH Oriental pieces were the main strength of Woolley & Wallis’s (15% buyer's premium) quarterly specialist ceramics sale on February 25, there was also evidence of the continued strength of the market for unusual examples of early English porcelain.
