We had a good wander round, and although there were lots of good stalls, nothing much caught my eye. Until I saw this little bronze bee thing. It's about 4 inches long, and the bee's body lifts up to reveal a hollow where things (small things) could be stored. I like bees, I like shiny things, so I asked how much the stall holder wanted. He asked for £15, we settled on £12.
On the bottom of the bee, there's a stamp reading "W Avery and Sons, Redditch, The Bee Case". So, with the miracle of interweb phones, I looked up said info. First site I found was a page from Christie's, the auctioneers, where a similar case sold for £400 in 1993.
Holy. Poop.
My bee case dates from 1869 - 1898 ish, was designed to hold needles and pins, and they are well collectable! Now, mine isn't in great nick - the top of the leaf is bent, the catch is broken, and even after a fair bit of cleaning it's pretty tarnished. So I doubt I'd get anywhere near £400, even if they cost the same as they did in 1993. But I reckon I'll take it to an antique dealer and see how much they'd value it at. I'd be dead excited if it would be worth putting it in an auction!
No comments:
Post a Comment