€343,250 for top lot amid strong interest

Quality and design tops at Mount Congreve, writes Des O’Sullivan

The Hampden Epergne, a George III piece made by Thomas Pitts, London, 1763, was the top lot at the Mount Congreve sale 11at Christie’s. It sold for £343,250.

THE whopping £343,250 paid for the mother of all epergnes from Mount Congreve in London last week says it all.

In spite of recession and uncertainty the key ingredients for success in the collector’s market are quality, provenance and design. Mount Congreve has it in spades. Just 116 lots, expected to bring in £2.5m, made £3.4m. Competition by internet, on the telephone and in the room was fierce.

Internet bidders, watching live from New York and Los Angeles to Scotland and Spain, were so deeply involved that they might as well have been in the room.

Auctioneers comments like “are you still ‘in’ Newton Abbot, I’m about to sell?” and “sold to the internet bidder in Beijing” highlight the global nature of selling in 2012. The top lots were the epergne, or table centrepiece, a George II overmantel mirror made by William Linnell for the Earl of Coventry, and the pair of George III pier-tables designed by Robert Adam, each of which made £313,250. Another 900 lots from Mount Congreve will be auctioned by Mealy’s and Christie’s in a marquee at the Co. Waterford mansion on July 10-11. There will be viewing of fine furniture, mirrors, chandeliers, collectibles and an extensive library in the house.