No Surrender! War Poster

Hand-printed in six colours and suffering from its age, this relatively unknown World War II poster is rare and obscure. It was published in New York in 1942 by the Netherlands Information Bureau, a consortium of escaped Dutch government officials working with Dutch Americans to draw attention to the plight of the people suffering in the occupied Netherlands. As Rotterdam burns in the background, and refugees flee in silhouette, the wounded soldier in the foreground fights on. The words, “No Surrender,” were spoken by exiled Queen Wilhelmina in her address to the U.S. Congress on 6 August, 1942.

Consoli Collection Catalogue No. V1-N1-01

Japanese Sake Bottle

A Japanese Edo period (1603-1868) sake bottle, or tokkuri, is typically bulbous with a narrow neck. In this example, a heavy ceramic body was first coated with white slip, then decorated with black, asymmetrical markings. The white slip and underglaze black were both covered with a clear, crackled overglaze that reaches within 2 centimetres of the base. A “bullseye” artist’s signature appears on the back of the bottle. A comparison with other examples held in the collections of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art suggest that this tokkuri was made at the end of the Edo period in the mid-nineteenth century.

Consoli Collection Catalogue No. V1-N2-02

Hallmarked Silver Art Nouveau Teaspoons

Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929) first published The Theory of the Leisure Class in 1899, and argued that the wealthy wasted their excess resources on symbolic purchases to enhance their own status. In 1902, the Sheffield silversmiths Charles Fletcher & Sons created these teaspoons for just such a purpose. Fletcher combined biblical and neoclassical Greek images, and presented them in the sinuous Art Nouveau style of his day. Cast in solid silver, Fletcher’s spoon handles featured a woman plucking fruit from a tree. She was enclosed within a border of calla lilies. The imagery suggests that either a classically clothed Eve is picking the biblical apple from the tree, or the mythological Greek Persephone has found a pomegranate. Persephone ate pomegranate seeds in order to seal her relationship with Hades. Calla lilies are sometimes connected with Eve’s tears, but the drapery is certainly Greek. Either way, the original owner of these spoons would have impressed any guest with their wealth and good taste.

Consoli Collection Catalogue No. V1-N3-01

Hallmarked Silver Art Deco Coffee Spoons

Boxed sets of silver coffee spoons became extremely popular in the period between World War I and World War II. They were available in a wide variety of styles, and their light weight made them affordable. The most common designs featured oval coffee bean “beads” at the end of the spoons’ handles. The beans could be enamelled silver or moulded in less expensive Bakelite. These particular spoons were created by the English silversmith William Hair Haseler in 1924, one year before the officially recognised start of the Art Deco design period. Haseler chose to embrace the neoclassical revival that was embraced in the Art Deco period, and presented his spoons with handles that resembled Doric columns. Doric columns were simple and unadorned, Ionic columns featured scrolls on the capitals, and Corinthian columns were highly decorative. Haseler’s box complimented his spoons, and also embraced the geometric forms associated with the period.

Consoli Collection Catalogue No. V1-N3-02

Hallmarked Silver Salad Servers

Does anyone really needs a pair of solid silver salad servers? The answer is, of course, no. But regardless of their usefulness, Sheffield’s Atkin Brothers created them for the retail market in 1937. With a silver weight of over seven ounces, their most impressive attribute is their bulk. The servers are over 22 centimetres in length, and are presented in a leather case lined with silk. They would have been the perfect, superfluous wedding present. There is no significant wear to them as they were probably stored safely in a cabinet and used only on special occasions. Collectors have been slow to realise the potential value of twentieth century silver, and much of it is sold for its scrap value. The salad servers’ minimalist, post-Art Deco aesthetics inspired their purchase at auction for inclusion in the Consoli Collection. Twentieth century silver can be quite wonderful, and its value will eventually rise beyond the reach of the silver scrappers.

Consoli Collection Catalogue No. V1-N3-03

Catalin Bracelet

Catalin was an American variation of Bakelite and it was manufactured in a multitude of shapes and colours. It inspired an entirely new genre of jewellery in the 1930s, and was fashioned into brooches, rings and bracelets. Catalin was produced in bars, cylinders and many other forms. The raw material was then sliced and carved into the final product. This bracelet represents the zenith of authentic Catalin workmanship. It has no moulded seams. It is large in size and still has its original elastic binding. The ends of the individual segments show traces of period tool markings and it combines the rarest of colours. Green and white Catalin objects are relatively common, but beige and turquoise examples are almost unknown. Catalin jewellery is highly collectable, and this piece has it all.

Consoli Collection Catalogue No. V1-N4-01

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