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March 28, 2024, 06:01:24 pm
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Anyone know of a collector called Bernard Buckman, died 1991.

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forestman
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« on: May 15, 2017, 12:42:13 pm »

Just wondering if anyone might have heard of a snuff bottle collector called Bernard Buckman as I have just bought some bottles from his collection.

Regards, Adrian.
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Luke
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« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2017, 03:16:42 am »

Hi Adrian,

Did you buy at Chiswick auctions? There were a few bottles I had my eye on but they went for way over the estimates and in some cases thought the bidders paid too much - a damaged coral bottle went for over £2000.

I don't know anything about this collector but he seemed to have a nice collection. I googled the name and seems like there's been several auctions of his collection. One bottle in particular stood out - a master of rocks school jade bottle. What bottles did you end up buying?

Best
Luke
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forestman
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« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2017, 03:05:54 pm »

Hi Luke,

Yes it was Chiswick Auctioneers and I arrived home a short while ago having ridden up on my motorbike to collect my lots. I nearly had a Fake Monet frame moment when they brought out a lacquered Fubako I won which just fitted in my top box with a layer of bubble wrap on each end to jam it in place.

I think all Asian themed auctions are achieving good prices. I bought 2 bottles from Semley Auctions on Saturday and was surprised at the prices they achieved for some lots for a small provincial auction house. Every auction I view now talks of Chinese "spotters" viewing any snuff bottles. One recent small auction had 8 phone bidders for a group of blue and white bottles. I think they had to call in friends and relatives to man the phones as they don't have 8 employees.

I bought lot 163 which wasn't planned but I like both bottles. Also lot 418 which was described as having 11 bottles but the description only mentioned 10 and in fact had 23 bottles and the ones not mentioned were the ones I was interested in. I hadn't intended paying so much but have been getting frustrated losing out on bottles I like so decided to readjust what I pay. A mixed bag of a lot but 3 IP bottles I'm very happy with and will post when I can.

Regards, Adrian.
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Luke
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« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2017, 08:49:50 am »

Hi Adrian,

the prices are indeed crazy at auction at the moment. The odd thing is I feel you can get better examples and sometimes even cheaper at retail prices here in London than at auction. Certainly every now and then there seems to be ebay bargains which can be jumped on...

Interesting lots! I really like the 2 Tibetan type bottles you purchased and looking forward to seeing some of the bottles you got in that huge bundle Smiley I bid up to 400 on 2 blue and white bottles and was considering upping it to 500 when the bidding suddenly jumped to £1000. I definitely know somewhere where you can purchase the same deal cheaper Grin Although, I probably need to get more aggressive with the bidding no doubt... though hell am I paying £2k for a damaged coral bottle!

Best
Luke
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forestman
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« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2017, 10:58:50 am »

Hi Luke,

Those two blue and white bottles were nice but the bidding went to high on them for me.

I really wanted the silhouette agate of the bird under the tree but it went for £1800.

I've just picked up the 2 bottles I got from Semley Auctioneers and Chinese buyers go to their Asian auctions by the van load, none speaking English and all with Chinese bank accounts. I don't know if they are buying for themselves, buying on behalf of people in China or looking to sell what they buy in China. The undamaged coral bottle they had which was carved as a buffalo and was nice went for £1,400.

Regards, Adrian.
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Wattana
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« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2017, 10:10:06 pm »

Hi Adrian and Luke,

I don't know how I missed this thread from last May. I may have been travelling on business. Hell, that's no excuse! I have never heard of Bernard Buckman. But I'm surprised Joey hasn't. Not often an older collector passes under his radar.  Wink 

I think you are right about some of these smaller provincial auctions attracting Chinese mainland buyers. There appears to have been a significant slump in the snuff bottle market in the last few months. Two recent high profile US auctions had a high proportion of 'no sale' lots (ones that didn't meet their reserve), and lots which had 'no reserve' went for crazy low bids. For example, reasonably good 19th century blue-&-white porcelain bottles going for US$300 - US$400.....for a group of three!

Any collector who is planning to sell off some of their bottles may do well to place them with one of the minor auction houses. The Chinese mainland buyers seem to sniff out these auctions - perhaps assuming they can pick up better bargains there than at the high profile sales. Who knows - but worth following to see if there is a pattern.

Re your comment:
"Chinese buyers go to their Asian auctions by the van load, none speaking English and all with Chinese bank accounts. I don't know if they are buying for themselves, buying on behalf of people in China or looking to sell what they buy in China."
They are definitely not buying for themselves. The last two scenarios are correct.

Best,
Tom

 
« Last Edit: November 28, 2017, 10:11:43 pm by Wattana » Report Spam   Logged

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Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司
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« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2017, 05:16:54 am »

Guys,

     I'd not heard of Bernard Buckman, but found this:

It was not until she was in her 50s that my mother, Irene Buckman, who has died aged 103, found her true vocation as a barrister. This came about because I refused to take another exam after graduating from Oxford and said that as she was so keen on the law as a profession, she should take it up.

Her many barrister friends, including Elwyn Jones, who later became Labour lord chancellor, enthusiastically urged her to do so, and she enrolled at Gray’s Inn and was taken on as a junior by Michael Sherrard in Morris Finer’s chambers. She was always meticulous about detail and conscientious in preparing her briefs, which enabled her to overcome her nervousness about arguing a case in public. Her solid success as a defence lawyer led to her being offered prosecution work and she also sat as an acting judge, which she greatly enjoyed: Jones said that, if only she had started earlier, he would have been delighted to appoint her to the bench.

She was born in east London, the oldest child of Mary and Isaac Amiel, who ran a sweetshop and delicatessen called Amiel Corner on Mile End Road. From Central Foundation school for girls, Irene won a state scholarship to University College London, where she studied French and Spanish and met Bernard Buckman at a student dance. Being the only one with a car, he offered to take her home, and did not object when she piled in with half a dozen friends. They were married on Valentine’s Day 1936.

During their honeymoon, Bernard’s family business went bust, so he took a management job at Richard Shops, a small chain selling women’s clothes, and Irene worked as a secretary at the West London Reform Synagogue. When the second world war came, Bernard, unlike many of his leftwing friends, enlisted; Irene’s father was killed working as an ARP warden during the blitz, and she helped her mother run the shop. I was their first child, born in 1941, Rob followed in 1948 and Jennie in 1949. Irene reluctantly agreed to help sort out management problems with a new family business, Ian Peters, which produced knitwear, but did not much enjoy working with her sisters-in-law.
 
While working as a lawyer, she also found time to lead an active social and cultural life, including writing Twenty Tales from Shakespeare (1963) for children, when she found there was no book to explain Shakespeare’s complicated plots in simple, contemporary language.

Bernard died in 1991; Irene continued to keep up with politics, go to the theatre and play bridge, and returned to the West London Synagogue to help with the senior citizens’ club, most of whose members were much younger than she was. She took enormous, and often critical, pride in her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, to whom she was the embodiment of intellectual rigour combined with loving generosity.

Rob died in 2011. Irene is survived by Jennie and me, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Peter Buckman

    -----------------------------------------
My apologies - it's from the Guardian - but assume that it is still truthful, being Peter Buckman's obituary about his mother [and father, in effect].

  From reading it, I gather that, while he was Jewish and a collector, he was from London, Reformed Jewish & leftist [Nisht undzerer {not one of 'ours'} as we say in Yiddish  Roll Eyes Shocked Grin], and, at least from 1980 to his death in 1991, not a member of the ICSBS.
My earlier membership directories are in Ireland.
I will ask Susan Page if she or Bob Hall knew him, etc.

   I might be the 'Jew Guru'  Wink Cheesy, but even I could not know every older collector, MOT or not. And I'd rarely if ever be caught dead in a Reform Jewish Synagogue.  Roll Eyes Grin

Best to all,
Joey
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Joey Silver (Si Zhouyi 義周司), collecting snuff bottles since Feb.1970

forestman
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« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2017, 03:14:32 am »

Dear Joey,

Thank you for the information, it's about the only provenance I have for any of my bottles  Cry

Regards, Adrian.
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forestman
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« Reply #8 on: November 30, 2017, 03:35:53 am »

Hi Tom,

There have been a few auctions here in the UK recently that have really brought in Chinese buyers. Woolley and Wallis's recent auction was going at 40 lots an hour or less due to the mass of telephone bidders with some lots far exceeding good estimates. The snuff bottles they had were mixed in terms of bids. Famille Rose ones went for good money with a lot of glass and agates being passed (except the lot I wanted). B & W generally seem to go well at all auctions here.

It seems good B & W are selling well on ebay, in fact I've been surprised at some of the prices for all types of bottles on ebay recently.

Regards, Adrian.
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