March 4, 2013

Mark Birley Auction at Sotheby’s London

Mark Birley (formally, Marcus Lecky Oswald Hornby Birley) was the quintessential mod man in London during the Swinging 60’s through the new millennium.image He ran several very successful nightclubs, including Annabel’s, which catered to both real royalty and rock royalty. He died in 2007, and left a collection of fascinating objects, which are now being auctioned by Sotheby’s in London later this month.

I spent some time looking through the on-line catalogue and selecting some items which interested me. One of Mark Birley’s big interests was his dogs, and there are literally dozens of line drawings, etchings, water colours and oils of dogs of all types.  Here’s a great piece on Birley’s decorating sense, and the story of some of his pieces.

imageAmong the other items to go under the hammer are the stuff of everyday living – if you’re the kind of person Birley was.

THE STEPS OF ST. PAUL'S, LONDON
signed: DACRES ADAMS
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NORWICH TERRIER
signed: Neil Forster
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BELGIAN BANTAM
titled and inscribed: BELGIAN BANTAM/ John Sears
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THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, RINGLING BROS AND BARNUM & BAILEY
lithograph in colours, 1942
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POTTING GEAR
signed: Henry Koehler
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HERMÈS CIGARETTE BOX
Paris, designed circa 1928, shagreen, silvered and gilt metal
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ASSORTED CUTLERY IN SILVER, IVORY & BONEimage

TEAPOT, London, 1786
silver, wood handle and finial
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A SET OF BATH TAPS
American, circa 1925-35
marked 'sterling silver - silver mounted', pale green guilloche enamel
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To view all of the pieces on auction, please click here.

14 comments:

  1. I'm surprised his children are selling this stuff off. Vanity Fair did an article, not that long ago, about all of his varied clubs and offshoots. Loads of doggie pics. He had the most marvelous dressing room.

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    1. I think they chose what they wanted and this is what is left over

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  2. Thanks meg, some very special items here!
    Often our children do not want our "stuff" just not their style. Silver for instance.

    xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

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    1. It just kills me the people don't want their heritage

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  3. Looks like some excellent armchair shopping here!

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    1. Reggie, I had such fun looking through the catalogue. There were lots of great items.

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  4. It's all quite ordinary except for the provenance, and if you were a friend of Mark Birley's then you might want to buy something. Or indeed if you were a frequent visitor to Annabel's; I've only been once, and it was a bit of a blur, but the nightingale's might have been singing in Berkeley Square as we departed.

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  5. I love shagreen and the tea pot is exquisite!

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  6. I forwarded this to my client in UK (which is around the corner from the home he lived in.) Beautiful stuff! xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

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  7. Love the Bath Taps and the Norwich Terrior.
    Would love to see his dog collection. I'm going to try to read the Vanity Fair article referred to in another blog. Thank you for showing these.

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    1. I want to try to find the Vanity Fair article too

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