Buying Cesnola 1 June 1883

analysing the activities of a nineteenth-century collector

This page gives the details of the lots that Pitt-Rivers bid for, and bought, at the first day of a four-day auction at Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge in London [1-4 June 1883] of objects from Alessandro Palma di Cesnola and Edwin Henry Lawrence's collection. That is, items excavated by Cesnola, and sent to Lawrence in repayment for his support for Cesnola's excavations. These details are taken from a hand-annotated Sothebys auctioneer's listing. Copies of these are held at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford though in fact the following table was compiled from a copy obtained via the British Museum.

See here for Lawrence's introduction to the sale.

See here for all the successful bidders at this day's auction.

No of lots bought	Lot number	Sale Catalogue Description	Number of objects	Price paid £.s.d	Matching entries in 2nd collection catalogue and Notes
1	2	Glass Bowls 2 1/2 in, 2 in.	2	0.12.0	Add.9455vol1_p231 /1-2
2	4	Glass Bowls 3 in, 2 1/2 in	2	0.15.0	Add.9455vol1_p231 /3-4
3	16	Glass Bowls 2 1/2. 2 3/4 in, clear	2	0.15.0	Add.9455vol1_p231 /5-6
4	23	Glass Bowls 2 in 1 1/2 with lids	2	0.18.0	Add.9455vol1_p231 /7-8, Price erroneously given as £0.15.0
5	30	Glass Others [lachrymatories or unguentaria, long necks with moulded lips] 5 1/4 in and another iridescent	2	1.3.0	Add.9455vol1_p231 /9-10
6	36	Glass Unguentaria or lachrymatories 6 1/2 in and 2 small specimens	3	1.0.0	Add.9455vol1_p231 /11-13
7	37	Glass Unguentaria 6 1/2 in 5 3/4 in	2	1.3.0	Add.9455vol1_p232 /1-2
8	40	Glass Unguentaria 6 1/2 in and 2 others	3	1.3.0	Add.9455vol1_p232 /3-5
9	43	Glass Unguentaria 5 in and 3 others iridescent	4	1.18.0	Add.9455vol1_p232 /6-9
10	47	Glass Unguentaria 6 1/2 in and 2 others lonh	3	1.10.0	Add.9455vol1_p232 /10-12
11	65	Glass Unguentaria 6 3/4 in and 2 others	3	1.8.0	Add.9455vol1_p232 /13-15; lot number given as Lot 66
12	66	Glass Unguentaria 6 3/4 in and 2 others finely iridescent	3	1.12.0	Add.9455vol1_p232 /16-18; lot number given as Lot 67
13	76	Glass Unguentaria 4 3/4 in banded neck and 3 others iridescent, fine shapes	4	3.0.0	Add.9455vol1_p233 /1-4
14	85	Glass Unguentaria 7 in and 2 others fine iridescence	3	2.1.0	Add.9455vol1_p233 /5-7
15	87	Glass Unguentaria 6 1/4 in and 2 others iridescent	3	1.11.0	Add.9455vol1_p233 /8-10
16	120	Glass Unguentaria 6 1/4 in and 2 others iridescent	2 *	1.7.0	Add.9455vol1_p233 /11-13; * sic actually 3 objects
17	123	Glass Unguentaria 5 1/2 in a rare shape and 2 others iridescent	3	2.0.0	Add.9455vol1_p233 /14-16
18	199	Terra Cottas One 10 in and 2 others	3	0.11.0	Add.9455vol1_p236 /1-3
19	200	Terra Cottas One 6 1/2 in black and red ornamentation and 2 others	3	0.19.0	Add.9455vol1_p236 /4-6
20	201	Terra Cottas One 9 in chequer and fylfot patterns and 2 others	3	0.16.0	Add.9455vol1_p236 /7-9
21	202	Terra Cottas One 8 in black and ornamental lines and 2 others	3	0.18.0	Add.9455vol1_p237 /3-5
22	203	Terra Cottas One 9 in black and red triangle pattern and 2 others	3	0.16.0	Add.9455vol1_p237 /6-8 price given as £0.10.0
23	206	Terra Cottas One 9 in and 2 others	3	0.17.0	Add.9455vol1_p237 /9-11
Not listed against PR in sale catalogue	207	Terra Cottas One 7 in and 2 others	3	0.13.0	Add.9455vol1_p238 /1 Description Lot 207 £0.14.0 Archaic pale yellow terra cotta single handled vase, globular body, ornamental patterns in black, fylfots &c. 7 in high and 2 others. No illustration. According to the Sotheby sale catalogue this was actually sold to Lincoln not Pitt-Rivers [currently it is not known who or what Lincoln was]
24	208	Terra Cottas One 8 in and 2 others	3	0.14.0	Add.9455vol1_p238 /2-4; price listed as 12/-
25	210	Terra Cottas One 7 1/2 in fine ornamentation but broken and 2 others	3	0.12.0	Add.9455vol1_p238 /5-7; price listed as £1.0.0
26	211	Terra Cottas One 9 in chequer, fylfot and arrows; and 2 others	3	1.0.0	Add.9455vol1_p238 /8-10; price given as 18/-
27	214	Terra Cottas One 10 in fine bold circles and cruciform ornamentation and 2 others	3	0.18.0	Add.9455vol1_p239 /4-6
28	217	Terra Cottas One 8 in and 2 others	3	0.14.0	Add.9455vol1_p239 /1-3
29	224	Terra Cottas [Archaic Vase or Amphora] Another 21 1/2 in	1	1.8.0	Add.9455vol1_p239 /7
30	225	Terra Cottas [Archaic Vase or Amphora] Another 21 in	1	1.7.0	Add.9455vol1_p242 /3
31	236	Two askoi 8 1/2 in	2	1.1.0	Add.9455vol1_p239 /8-9. These objects were sent to SKM and later donated to the PRM see 1884.38.42-43
32	239	Archaic vase 2 handles, globe body, red and black ornamentation 10 1/2 inches high	1	1.2.0	Add.9455vol1_p239 /10
33	243	Another [Archaic vase] 9 in	1	0.16.0	Add.9455vol1_p240 /1
34	249	Two vases, one 12 in high with figures of a Horse in archaic style fylfot &c (broken necks)	2	0.8.0	Add.9455vol1_p240 /2-3
35	251	Two ditto [Archaic Vases] circular mouths 12 in	2	0.19.0	Add.9455vol1_p240 /4-5
36	256	Another similar lot [Archaic Vases]	3	0.14.0	Add.9455vol1_p240 /6-8
37	258	Archaic Vase 12 in	1	0.12.0	Add.9455vol1_p241 /1
38	259	Archaic Oenochoe black and red ornamentation narrow lip 10 in and another	2	0.18.0	Add.9455vol1_p241 /2-3; price given as 12/-
39	266	One [Archaic Oenochoe] 9 in and another	2	0.14.0	Add.9455vol1_p241 /4-5
40	274	One [Archaic Oenochoe] 9 in and another	2	1.7.0	Add.9455vol1_p241 /6 and Add.9455vol1_p243 /4-5
41	277	One [Archaic Oenochoe] 10 in with ornament of a nondescript animal of a horse kind eating a sprig; and another 7 1/2 in a bird flying very fine Archaic art	2	0.16.0	Add.9455vol1_p241 /7-8
42	281	Another [Rhodian Amphora] 34 in	1	1.11.0	Add.9455vol1_p242 /1

42 out of a total of 282 lots were purchased by Pitt-Rivers. 103 objects in total purchased on 1 June 1883. Total spent = £46.2.0. This could be calculated as being worth around £3,620 in 2010 using the 'real price of the commodity' as suggested by measuring worth site. The lowest successful bid by Pitt-Rivers was 8 shillings, the highest £3.

In the middle of the items from the 1 June 1883 sale, as they are listed in volume 1 of the catalogue of the second collection, are some items actually acquired on the next two days, showing that the items were mixed up and then catalogued, not always in date order. It is not clear why some items were listed out of date order in some cases. Many of the descriptions given in the 2nd collection catalogue are the same as those in the Sotheby sale catalogue. However, a quick look at the table above will show the relatively high level of errors that bestrew the entries, particularly in recording the prices and lot numbers. Note that in addition one item is listed (but not illustrated) in the catalogue of the second collection which the auctioneer does not list as being bought by Pitt-Rivers but by Lincoln.

See here for a full list of the objects sold on 1 June 1883, and the listed buyers. The list is taken from the auctioneers copy of the sale catalogue, we are very grateful to Thomas Kiely from the British Museum for sending us a copy of this catalogue from which we were able to match items against the catalogue of the second collection.

Note that Pitt-Rivers decided to keep all the items from this sale for his second collection. However, a year later at another sale of Lawrence-Cesnola material he decided to add them to the items then held at South Kensington Museum, and they were transferred to Oxford as part of the founding collection. It was not known why one selection of items was kept and another loaned to SKM and then donated to Oxford. Both sets of objects were very similar.

Find a summary of all the bids on 1 June 1883 at Cesnola-Lawrence sale at Sotheby's here.

AP April 2012.

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