Sale-rooms
Where size counts
Alistair McAlpine
Iam tempted to feel sorry for John Major, but in one respect only. He feels that in the four years he has been Prime Minister, holding that office has never been any fun. Why he should imagine that the job of Britain's Prime Minister should be fun, eludes me. Perhaps it is this quality of naive expectation that has led him to make such a pig's ear of running his party, let alone the country. But the sale-rooms seem to have conspired to give the Prime Minis- ter a New Year with at least a touch of the `fun' that he so desperately seeks.
On 9 February Sotheby's have a sale of operatic costumes, music and opera memo- rabilia, from the collection of Dame Joan Sutherland. To bring joy to the heart of our Prime Minister, their catalogue quotes extensively from Norma Major's work on Sutherland. `Zefferelli's costumes', wrote Mrs Major in her authorised biography, `were a piece de resistance, in greens and blues to enhance her [Joan's] complexion.' For heaven's sake what on earth can have been wrong with the great Australian soprano to turn her face such exotic colours? Beautiful as these costumes are, they can only be worn by ladies of a certain size and, it seems, considerable strength. Joan Sutherland says of them `some of the costumes were extremely heavy to wear, but I like that. I was playing big characters on big stages and the costumes, often bedecked with jewels and with huge under- skirts, gave me a bigger presence. They cer- tainly made sure I walked properly.' One of the heaviest was the Donna Anna costume from the New York Metropolitan Opera's 1978 production of Don Giovanni which is estimated to fetch £5,000.
It seems to me to be an act of incompe- tence on the part of Australia's Art Establish- ment that these costumes have reached the sale-room in the first place. It should have made certain that some institution or other in Australia laid hands on them long before they reached Sotheby's. Sutherland, after all, is possibly one of the greatest talents to come out of their vast continent. I have no doubt that although more difficult to display and store than Rudolf Nureyev's ballet shoes (a bundle of which were sold extremely well last Thursday) the Sutherland costumes will fetch far more than their reserves.
Phillips have another sale to cheer up the Prime Minister. Should he be able to take off the morning of 26 January, after a long lie in, he could perhaps attend at 101 New Bond Street where, at the civilised hour of 11 a.m., they will begin to sell the finest collection of cricketing memorabilia that has come on the market for 30 years. This collection was put together over a period of 75 years by Hal Cohen, a dental surgeon. A Spy carton of Ranji, said to be one of the finest bats in the world, is expected to fetch £5,000. Spy, the cartoonist, was in fact Sir Leslie Matthew Ward, who worked for Vanity Fair at the turn of the century. His colleague, Carlo Pellegrini, known as 'Ape', also has work in this collection. His signed original for the cartoon of the Hon. Alfred Lyttleton K.C., is likely to fetch £3,000. A photograph of W.G. Grace, signed and inscribed: `With this bat I made my hun- dredth century and scored 1,000 runs in May 1895 — W.G.G.' is estimated to fetch £300. Should John Major finally come to the conclusion that being Prime Minister is never likely to be a lot of fun, and hand in his bat, then perhaps he should first acquire the 1,000 cricketing books offered in this sale. Amongst them he would find the complete set of Wisden's Cricketers Almanac, and The Noble Game of Cricket by Sir Jeremiah Colman, as well as Lilly- whites's Guide to Cricketers 1850-1868. This ample supply of reading material should keep him occupied while he awaits his hoped-for rush of offers from the bank- ing fraternity.
For myself, I have never really cared a lot for cricket. Toy soldiers are my passion and Phillips have a wonderful sale of them on 17 January. Lot 272 really takes my fancy: `An Indian Prince seated on a camel, richly caparisoned with his son perched in front of him waving a sword, 1930', esti- mated at £150. Perhaps this jolly pair are on their way to a cricket match? I would not mind owning Lot 8 either, `an 18 inch heavy howitzer with a team of ten horses and limber in original box, with ammuni- tion,' estimated at £1,200.
For anyone, like our Prime Minister, who may, in the not too distant future, have to make a ride into the sunset, consid- erable style could be added by purchasing the two silver and gold adorned saddles made by Edward H. Bohlin of Hollywood, California which are to be sold by Christie's in New York on 27 January.
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