The Telegraph - Tuesday, June 4, 1895
This report was originally published in English. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
Wilde's Effects.
Sold by Auction.
Mr. Oscar Wilde's goods and chattels were (says the Daily Chronicle of April 25) dispersed yesterday at his house in Tite street, Chelsea, under a sheriff's order. Most of the people, excepting in particular a knot of artists who attended the sale, were brokers. Taking the prices all in all they ruled low. The collection of china figuring in the catalogue caused almost the least spirited bidding of the sale, which must have been a satisfaction to the women present, who purchased some of the best pieces. For instance, a blue and white Worcester china jug, a blue and white bowl, and a blue oriental crocus stand fetched only just over a guinea. A connoisseur observed "the china was being thrown away" but he did not offer more for the next lot. The most interesting article sold was an antique mahogany writing table, fitted with flaps, a rising slope, and a draw-out desk, stated to have been at one time the property of Carlyle. It looked a singularly uncomfortable table. "Do you guarantee it Carlyle's desk?" somebody asked when the auctioneer invited a starting offer. "No," was the reply, "I guarantee nothing: but I have no reason to doubt its history." The bidding rapidly mounted to 10 guineas, and then more slowly to 14 guineas, at which figure it was knocked down. Beside this price there was one of £14, given for "An oil painting by Pennington," of Oscar Wilde, a full sized portrait, which to quote the catalogue further, was not only "framed" but had been " exhibited." A crayon figure drawing "attributed to Whistler" brought £21. Then £15 was offered and taken for "a pencil sketch of a lady by Whistler," accompanied by a pair of crayon drawings not his. Two etchings of two of the leading actresses, several dainty water colours, and more portraits of Oscar Wilde, were included among the pictures. The largest section of the strangely mixed household gods[sic] was certainly the books, and they ranged over a wide area of authors and subjects, poetry, belles lettres, and French fiction being most prominent. Parcels of French novels followed each other, and three volumes of newspaper cuttings preceded by a little space 13 volumes of Parnell Commission evidence and speeches. The newspaper cuttings, referring, one supposed, to Oscar Wilde as author and playwright, went for 13s., while the more bulky Parnell Commission records only produced 8s. No rigid method of classification seemed to have been observed in the arrangement of the books, and when the bundles were large only a few of the volumes were mentioned. Thus buyers were as often as not in the position of boys dipping into a lucky bag, only the gentleman who for £2 got Tennyson's poems of 1858, with Carlyle's autograph, and 29 other books, must have come out safely enough. Daniel O'Connell's autograph on a copy of " Horæ Hellenicæ " made it marketable at once, and a parcel of manuscripts readily ran up to £5 15s. As an interesting commentary on the bearing of modern appliances towards manuscripts, it should be mentioned that a good many of these were type-written. The most keenly competed for lot of absolute Oscar Wilde works contained "The Happy Prince," "The Sphinx," and "Lady Windermere's Fan," and realised £8 5s.: while "Dorian Grey" passed to a buyer for three guineas.
Mr Oscar Wilde’s goods and chattels were dispersed on Wednesday at his house in Tite street, Chelsea, under a sheriff’s order. Most of the people, excepting in particular a knot of artists, who attended the sale, were brokers. Taking the prices all in all they ruled low. The collection of china figuring in the catalogue caused almost the least spirited bidding of the sale, which must have been a satisfaction to the women present, who purchased some of the best pieces. For instance, a blue and white Worcester china jug, a blue and white bowl, and a blue oriental crocus stand fetched only just over a guinea. A connoisseur observed "the China was being thrown away," but he did not offer more for the next lot. The most interesting article sold was an antique mahogany writing table fitted with flaps, a rising slope, and a draw-out desk, stated to have been at one time the property of Carlyle. It looked a singularly uncomfortable table. "Do you guarantee it Carlyle’s desk?" somebody asked when the auctioneer invited a starting offer. "No," was the reply. "I guarantee nothing; but I have no reason to doubt its history." The bidding rapidly mounted to ten guineas, and then more slowly to fourteen guineas, at which figure it was knocked down. Beside this price there was one of £14 given for "An oil painting by Pennington" of Oscar Wilde, a full-sized portrait which, to quote the catalogue further, was not only "framed’ but had been "exhibited," A crayon figure drawing "attributed to Whistler" brought £21. Then £15 was offered and taken for "a pencil sketch of a lady by Whistler," accompanied by a pair of crayon drawings not his. Two etchings of two of the leading actresses, several dainty water-colours, and more portraits of Oscar Wilde, were included among the pictures. The largest section of the strangely mixed household gods was certainly the books, and they ranged over a wide area of authors and subjects, poetry, belles lettres, and French fiction being the most prominent. Parcels of French novels followed each other, and three volumes of newspaper cuttings preceded by a little space 13 volumes of Parnell Commission evidence and speeches. The newspaper cuttings referring, one supposed, to Oscar Wilde as author and playwright, went for 13s, while the more bulky Parnell Commission records only produced 8s. No rigid methods of classification seemed to have been observed in the arrangement of the books, and when the bundles were large only a few of the volumes were mentioned. Thus buyers were as often as not in the position of boys dipping into a lucky bag, only the gentleman who for £2 got Tennyson’s poems of 1858, with Carlyle’s autograph, and nine and twenty other books, must have come out safe enough. Daniel O’Connell’s autograph on a copy of "Horae Hellenicae" made it marketable at once and a parcel of manuscripts readily ran up to £5 15s. As an interesting commentary on the bearing of modern appliances towards manuscripts, it should be mentioned that a good many of these were type-written. The most keenly competed for lot of absolute Oscar Wilde works contained "The Happy Prince," "The Sphinx" and "Lady Windermere’s Fan," and realised £8 5s; while "Dorian Grey" passed to a buyer for three guineas.
Mr. Oscar Wilde.s goods and chattels were dispersed on Wednesday at his house in Tite-street, Chelsea, under a sheriff's order. Most of the people, excepting in particular a knot of artists who attended the sale, were brokers. Taking the prices in all, they ruled low.The collection of china figuring in the catalogue caused almost the least spirited bidding of the sale, which must have been a satisfaction to the women present, who purchased some of the best pieces. For instance, a blue and white Worcester china jug, a blue and white bowl, and a blue Oriental crocus stand fetched only just over a guinea. A connoisseur observed "the china was being thrown away," but he did not offer more for the next lot. The most interesting article sold was an antique mahogany writing-table, fitted with flaps, a rising slope, and a draw-out desk, stated to have been at one time the property of Carlyle. It looked a singularly uncomfortable table. "Do you guarantee it Carlyle's desk?" somebody asked when the auctioneer invited a starting offer. "No," was the reply: "I guarantee nothing; but I have no reason to doubt its history." The bidding rapidly mounted to ten guineas, and then more slowly to fourteen guineas, at which figure it was knocked down. Beside this price there was one of £14, given for "An oil painting by Pennington" of Oscar Wilde, a full-sized portrait, which, to quote the catalogue further, was not only "framed" but had been "exhibited." A crayon figure drawing attributed to Whistler brought £21. Then £15 was offered and taken for "a pencil sketch of a lady by Whistler," accompanied by a pair of crayon drawings not his. Two etchings of two of the leading actresses, several dainty water colours, and more portraits of Oscar Wilde, were included among the pictures. The largest section of the strangely mixed household gods was certainly the books, and they ranged over a wide area of authors and subjects--poetry, belles lettres, and French fiction being most prominent. Parcels of French novels followed each other, and three volumes of newspaper cuttings preceded by a little space thirteen volumes of Parnell Commission evidence and speeches. The newspaper cuttings, referring, one supposed, to Oscar Wilde as author and playwright, went for 13s., while the more bulky Parnell Commission records only produced 8s. No rigid method of classification seemed to have been observed in the arrangement of the books, and when the bundles were large only a few of the volumes were mentioned. Thus buyers were as often as not in the position of boys dipping into a lucky bag, only the gentlemen who for £2 got Tennyson's poems of 1858, with Carlyle's autograph, and nine-and-twenty other books, must have come out safely enough. Daniel O'Connell's autograph on a copy of "Home Hellenicsm" made it marketable at once, and a parcel of manuscripts nearly ran up to £3 15s. As an interesting commentary on the bearing of modern appliances towards manuscripts, it should be mentioned that a good many of these were type-written. The most keenly-competed for lot of absolute Oscar Wilde works contained "The Happy Prince," "The Sphinx," and "Lady Windermere's Fan," and realized £8 5s.; while "Dorian Grey" passed to a buyer for £3 3s.