Wednesday just before two in the afternoon:In a few minutes Christie's lot 176, the heavily reconstructed Crosby Garrett Helmet will be under the auctioneer's hammer, and we will know what it went for in due course, though I bet we are not told to whom.
Christie's auctioneer Hugh Edmeades sells The Crosby Garrett Helmet
Judging by the fact that the Facebook page about their appeal has not been updated since Tuesday and the sum mentioned there was not really particularly impressive, it would seem that the Tullie House Museum did not raise as much cash from its public appeal it needed to be a serious partner in the bidding.
As we all waited in anticipation there was the possibility of reading some Tweets from the auction house. Its interesting to read a journalist from Northern England describing her impressions of the London auction room after an overnight train journey to get there. Note that since the metal detectorist whipped it down to London at the first opportunity (within days) this was the first time that she (coming from the place far to the north of London where the piece was said to have been found) had seen this object in the flesh, which makes the penultimate comment here all the more poignant. The first post in the sequence was made at nine the night before:
#Bid to keep Roman helmet in Cumbria fails: A CUMBRIAN museum's dream to save a rare Roman helmet for the public was shattered today when it sold for over £2million to a private collector at Christie’s auction in London. The 2,000-year-old bronze relic with adjoining facemask was found on farmland in Crosby Garrett, near Kirkby Stephen in May by a young metal detector from Peterlee. The hammer went down after just three minutes of intense bidding to a private anonymous bidder for £2,281,250 - dramatically higher than its guide price of £300,000. Tullie House in Carlisle launched a fundraising campaign just three weeks ago to try to keep the precious artefact in the county, receiving £100,000 from the public. They also received money from corporate sponsors, Cumbria County Council and £1million from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. Bids came from six people, including one buyer on the phone from California who dropped out at £800,000. Tullie House's representative - the only bidder to be there in person - bid well past the £1 million mark but lost out to the private collector anonymously bidding over the phone [...]. http://bit.ly/av9a2NReporter Kate Proctor is off to Christie's in London for the Crosby Garrett helmet auction. Let's hope Tullie House win the bid! about 18 hours ago ...
# http://twitpic.com/2vcsvd - Tullie House's Andrew McKay said he's extremely nervous. Huge expectations.
# The helmet looks even more spectacular in real life. Its haunting face gleams in the sunlight. I can see why TH want it.
# http://twitpic.com/2vcu22 - The helmet on display at Christies next to the auctioneer. Bidding starts in an hour
# Lots of smaller Roman and Egyptian items to get through first at the Crosby Garrett helmet sale.
# If a Near Eastern alabaster soup ladle has gone for 9000 what will the Roman helmet fetch?!
# Front row seat at Christie's auction just metres from the Crosby Garrett helmet. The room is filling up with 60 lots still to go.
# The helmet looks even more amazing in real life, gleaming bronze face and the griffin peak is so intricate. Unbelievable!
# Lots of press and media here just to find out who gets the helmet. Tense atmosphere. Lots of French people bidding today.
# Andrew Mckay from Tullie House museum said he is feeling very nervous ahead of the sale. Said he doesn't want to let Cumbria down
# http://twitpic.com/2vdcf3 - Still going through Greek pots... Not long now till the helmet is up.
# A curious mix of people in the room...lots of tweed, lots of glamorous women, a Tom Jones lookalike and a man in a panama.
# "@pighilltweets: Watching the Auction at Christies, waiting for the Crobsy Garrett Helmet to come up. Fingers crossed."
# Andrew McKay from Tullie House said whatever happens today, it has raised some very important points on current treasure laws
# Greek marble altar gone at 19,000 to a Californian. Bids flying in over the phones...there's a lot of love for antiquities!
# Roman marble bust of an athlete up now...were getting to the big stuff. Sold for £230,000. Christies staff whispering 'amazing'
# You could write a novel on the characters in this room, getting really crammed now. (15 minutes before bidding on lot 176 starts)
# Tullie House's Mr McKay thinks he's going to be up against some strong international bidders over the phones (PMB: 14 minutes before bidding started)
PMB: Bidding begins at 14:01, apparently lasts four minutes before result appears online:
# 2 million sold!
(PMB: Over in Warsaw Paul Barford spits coffee all over supine cat on his desk in surprise, cat not amused)
# Tullie house loses helmet bid
# Its gone to a private collector - no idea if its going to stay in the UK. Such a shame for Tullie House
# Its gone to a private collector for over £2,000,000 - no idea if its going to stay in the UK Such a shame for Tullie House
According to the Telegraph a little later on in the day: "It sold to an anonymous telephone buyer for more than eight times the estimated price after a bidding war between six prospective owners [...]". Georgiana Aitken, head of antiquities at Christie's in London added the information: "In all, six bidders fought for the helmet -- three by telephone, two in the room and one via the Internet from California". She said antiquity collectors competed with bidders who were more used to investing in modern art and old masters.
I still say there was some reason for that abnormally low estimate. Scandal, shock and shame.
I bet Metal detector sales will be up in the UK this weekend.
The Twittering continued from Christie's:
# Andrew McKay thanks everyone back in Cumbria for their donations for the helmet through the Keep It In Cumbria appeal.
# Mr McKay said there was a serious argument now for looking at revising UK treasure laws after the museum is outbid by a million.
# So so so sad that the Crosby Garrett helmet has gone. I feel honoured that I was one of the last members of the public to see it.
# Just bumped into Jemima Kahn at Christie's. Still no compensation for losing the helmet. (PMB: A real credibility stomper that, being caught out hanging around an antiquity sale).
Well, all that prettifying by Christies and getting the PAS involved paid off, two and a quarter million. As the head of collections at Tullie House Museum, Andrew McKay said: "I don't think the people of Cumbria could have done any more. If we'd bid £2 million, it could have gone for £3 million, you just don't realise how much money some people have". And greed Mr McKay, you forgot the greed.
McKay is now calling for a review into UK Treasure Act, specifically the classification of Roman artefacts, which he feels should be given the same protection as items made from gold or silver, or pre-historic base metals. "There is an argument that a piece like this should never have been available to sell privately and should have gone to a museum. This helmet is integral to British history, yet because it's not old enough or not made from the 'right' metals we have not been able to save it for the public".
Photos from the Independent (Oli Scarff/Getty Images) and Westmorland Gazette here.
6 comments:
I feel so sorry for the Tullie House Museum and the people of Cumbria.
This helmet would have been a huge draw.
I cannot understand why people want to own artefacts. They have an historic value and are of immense interest but are hardly decorative.
Why don't these people with so much money support on up and coming artists?
I hope that if any good comes out of this is that the law is changed.
Well, I was just talking to my Mum on the phone and she says it's ugly.
Tullie House Museum never really stood a chance this time round. But good on them for putting up a brave fight.
But you are right, despite all the talk of outreach and partnership and all that tosh, we still are really no nearer to having more than a superficial view of the range of reasons and situations why people collect antiquities. I think this is a fundamental flaw in our approach to the issue.
If the new owner applies for an export license, then the Museum will get another shot because the RCEWA would certainly bar it temporarily. So, all is not lost just yet. However, it might have been a bad decision for the Museum to join the bidding since that contributed to a higher price tag.
But of course if the buyer was British that does not apply and it disappears from view into a private collection.
If a foreign buyer got it, there is nothing to stop him now selling (or "selling") it to another collector for twice the price he paid for it (the Coenwulf "mancus") and then the museum will be having to raise four million...
Note the bidding died down close to the three million mark which was estimated as the revenue this thing could pull into the region by the so-called "Mona Lisa Effect". obviously if the investors had gone above that, there'd be less chance that the Brits would raise that sum for Cumbria. This way they can make money out of the desire of the Brits to keep their heritage in the country. As Heritage Action pointed out, its heritage being held to ransom.
Of course if the brits cannot raise the equivalent sum, the export ban is temporary and after all that hard work, the thing goes to Alaska or wherever the bloke at the other end of that phone line lives.
No, I say let it go, let us use it as a justification for looking at those useless laws and in a more holistic manner dealing with the problem of artefact hunting and collecting as well as the illicit antiquities trade in the UK.
"....as a justification for looking at those useless laws and in a more holistic manner dealing with the problem of artefact hunting and collecting as well as the illicit antiquities trade in the UK."
Absolutely. An holistic manner.
This disgraceful episode (and I've yet to hear any member of the Portable Antiquities Scheme suggest this finder is self-centred and greedy and certainly not heroic - WHY?) has generated renewed talk about widening the definition of Treasure. But that's a red herring and impractical to boot, as always when "detectorists' rights" are seen to be threatened.
Yes, detectorists are content (and keen) to see the helmet included under the Act but woe betide any archaeologist that tries to include less dramatic Roman artefacts or coins. In the words of an NCMD spokesman on a forum such suggestions are : “All a part of a sustained attack on the hobby which the CBA and their seedy band of followers view as an easy target."
Plus, the usual threats are being made by various detectorists - that "they'd better not do that if they want to see the stuff". Since threats such as those are repeated by PAS as justification for the whole policy ("Liaison is essential else we'll drive the hobby underground")then presumably they will be taken seriously enough to blunt any reforming zeal regarding the Treasure Act.
No, the whole policy needs looking at seriously. Putting sticking plaster over one anomaly doesn't fix the whole.
I saw one detectorist forum where the Council for British Archaeology was described as "unethical" because it was not 100% in favour of indiscriminate artefact hunting. "Unethical" is rather how I would describe those who trash archaeological sites which are treated as 'quarries' for for collectable and saleable geegaws.
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