The object of the day: Royal Doulton loving cup

Royal Doulton loving cup, Captain Cook
designed by Charles Noke & Harry Fenton. Issued 1933 
limited edition of 350.

Size: 9.25"H

This loving-cup commemorates Captain Cook's landing on Botany Bay: on one side a party of crewmen are stepping ashore from a longboat, on the other Cook surveys the interior accompanied by his officers. The handles take the form of coconut palms.

Most of the loving cups produced featured many of the characters who were later portrayed as character jugs, many of which reflecting Noke's interest in literature, particularly the works of Dickens and Shakespeare. Folk heroes, whether real or fictitious, are inevitably colorful characters and thus eminently suitable as subject matter for these lively jugs. It is the attention to detail and overall presentation that enhances this range of prestige jugs, and together with skillfully modeled decoration and rich colors schemes, makes them admired among collectors today. These cups were produced for a brief period during the 1930s by Charles Noke and Harry Fenton, before the successful launch of character jugs. They were released in limited editions of only 300 to 1,000 pieces, some of which were never completed, making them highly collectable and difficult to find. These were the very first limited edition pieces produced by Royal Doulton.

Price: $6,000.00 

Reed & Barton antique silverware

Reed & Barton are known for their quality silverware. They started in 1824 in Taunton, Massachusetts, when under the name of Babbitt & Crossman they began making a type of base metal also known as pewter or Brittania (which was used to create the Oscar statuette). They later specialized on silver plated pieces and this was well before changing their name to Reed & Barton in 1840.   

Reed & Barton were well established as Silverware production company by the end of 1840s selling a large number of their silver plated pieces, including trays, bowls and pitchers to Rogers Brothers in Connecticut that in turn placed the now famous hallmarks on those items. At the same time, they were involved in the production of weapons for the Union Army soldiers and officers in American Civil War along with a growing range of silver plated products, many of them depicting animals such as dogs, cats, horses and sheep by the turn of the century. 

The object of the day: Victorian copy of Milanese barbute

Victorian copy of Milanese barbute c. 1455

Height :11 7/8''
Price: $2450.00 

Elegantly formed one piece skull with rolled lower edge and riveted reinforcement around the facial opening. Complete and in typical condition for genuine examples, most of which come from a small number of find places such as the Venetian arsenal at Chalcis, are preserved in condition relatively uniform for their respective groups.
A few genuine examples in comparable complete and unrestored condition have surfaced in the past half century and are currently valued in the $200,000 range. This example almost certainly was made as a forgery and lacking modern photographic technology, would easily have deceived the many wealthy collectors of the 19th century.