Clarice Cliff Feature Articles

Award-winning radio broadcast interviewer Doreen Mann asks director and co-owner WILL FARMER about the ’story’ behind the somewhat unique forthcoming Clarice Cliff sale at Fieldings Auctioneers on 25^th October 2014

D: The Decades of Design sale - the Clarice Cliff section especially is being eagerly anticipated by collectors this autumn and it seems to be unusually unique in more than one way?

W: This is a super exciting sale for me and is really the culmination of 7 years hard work! The Clarice market has changed beyond all recognition over the last 25 years when I first began collecting. Back then there were many dealers handling her work and of course Christies South Kensington creating the first ever specialist sales of her work. There was so much we didn’t know about Clarice, so many unanswered questions, so many patterns which would be re-discovered by a whole new audience. Today Clarice is a household name seen regularly on our TV screens and in countless wonderful books which beautifully illustrate both her work and life! These days there are few sales to match the heady days of the 1980s and 1990s; however I feel confident that this one comes close to re-creating the mood and atmosphere of those glorious days!

D: How did a Midlands auction house become the ‘instrument’ for a long-term American collector wanting to sell? How did the two of you get together?

We talked for over half an hour and excitedly traded tales of Clarice. Talked of how it all began for both of us and soon began to realise that we were something of kindred spirits! After a very short time it was clear that we had been collecting at the same time, attended the same sales, knew the same people. The obvious questions were asked: how long had the client been collecting, how many pieces were there, what patterns, what shapes, etc., etc. I soon began to realise that this was not only a large collection but a significant one. The client told me that her daughter was a professional photographer and she would be happy to send me pictures of the whole collection for my consideration and advice.

D: If I was an American resident wouldn’t I be contacting my local regional auction house to sell my Clarice Cliff or is she is an unknown artist/designer not recognised in the USA these days?

A close friend had suggested they look farther afield and a simple search through the internet bought my name forward! The rest as they say.......

D: Surely distance was a problem? How did you both overcome this?

W: The distance was an issue as the client was based in New York. That said, once I had seen the extent of the collection I made a decision that a transatlantic flight was worthwhile! I even agreed a deal with my business partner that if I secured the collection for sale the business would pay for the trip.....if I failed....I would pay for it personally and treat it as a holiday! So it was decided that I would make the hop across the pond and extend it into a combination of work and holiday!

D: What is the history of the items from this particular collection? When were they bought? Is it of any import for us to know why the vendor is selling?

W: The collection was amassed over a 20 or so year period. The client purchased pieces from mainly the UK and New York. She kept an incredible archive of receipts listing the purchase price and seller of each and every item in the collection. Her first pieces were actually purchased from Christies in New York back in the 1980s. A chance visit to the saleroom found her looking at a number of gloriously bright and bold pieces which she instantly fell in love with. Her husband actually said to me that he wasn’t surprised she loved it as Clarice represented his wife in ceramic form!! Bold, bright and cheery!

Once hooked she purchased pieces from all kinds of places, Christies in both New York and London, Phillips, Sotheby’s, dealers from New York and London, some members will remember and still know and others now long gone. One of the most remarkable places she acquired her Clarice was from the New York department store Bergdorf Goodman! One of the stores owners, a wealthy lady living in New York’s affluent upper east side also had a passion for Clarice and used to sell pieces in the china department of the store!! Now that’s high class Clarice collecting!!!

With regard to why is the collection now being sold....well the client has decided that its the right time in her life. She hasn’t purchased a piece for many years and the collection had become almost wallpaper in their home. She decided that it was time to look at their collections and make life a little simpler! Her husband is in the process of parting with his golf collection and it was agreed that she should look at doing the same with her Clarice collection. Its worth noting that she also owned many other Art Deco ceramics including Shelley, Susie Cooper, Grays etc., and the whole collection has been re-assessed and re-organised. With regard to the Clarice we have around 180 pieces of a 240-piece collection so she hasn’t let everything go....but certainly thinned out.

D: Will the owner be attending the sale? Is the owner a CCCC/claricecliff.com member?

W: Sadly she and her husband won’t be attending the sale. We talked about it countless times and in the end she felt that she didn’t want to physically watch it being sold off. She is going to stay in New York and listen to the sale via the internet.

She was once a CCCC member back in her heady collecting days but has not been a member for a number of years now.

D: What were the first steps of persuading the US collector that Fieldings in the heart of Britain was the right venue to sell this US collection? Did you have competition from other auction houses or other interested parties?

W: In terms of allowing Fieldings to handle the sale I knew that I had to go the extra mile and travel to the USA to meet her and her husband. We were getting along very well via email and telephone. However I felt that if we were to meet I could convey far better in person my love and passion of the subject! My commitment to travel across the Atlantic I feel assured her of my intentions, proved that I was not only able to help but more than willing.

D: What happened next?

W: So after many weeks of planning I set off for New York! We arrived late in the afternoon and contacted the client as soon as we were at the hotel. We agreed that I would rest up and be with them first thing in the morning for a full day! The next morning, suited and booted, I made the short walk to their upper east side apartment.

On arriving I was sent up to their apartment to be met at the door by the most enormous welcome. It was as if we had been friends for years! Their apartment was light and airy with a diverse collection of incredibly stylish art and furniture, beautifully arranged with accents of bold colour dotted here and there by Clarice. In the hall-way a console table stood with a large Dover jardiniere in Red Gardenia filled with flowering white orchids. In the lounge a wall filled with 18” ribbed chargers hung in two rows above the sofa. Then.....the absolute treat.....as I was walked into the dining room, a large bright room with one wall of glass throwing light across the deep windowsills and huge dining table...filled with Clarice! It was literally everywhere.....piece after piece after piece!

I stood in stunned silence for a while before turning to the client and bursting out laughing! It was a wonderful sight! And so our day began ..... I had already created a massive valuation document which I had posted ahead of my trip. This document was created from the initial photographs her daughter had dispatched. These images had helped me create an initial valuation covering shape, pattern, value!

My task....to compare my original valuation with the reality of the pieces in front of me! Obviously I had to check for condition issues, check sizes etc. This was without question one of the most fun days I have ever spent in my career.

While she had some knowledge I was able to tell her about shapes, patterns, decorators, restoration, basically fill in all the gaps! While she had amassed a wonderful collection it was clear that she had stepped away from the market some years since and not kept up with the ever increasing volumes of information we are all so used to.

After around eight hours of chatting, telling stories and talking Clarice it was agreed that we should go out for dinner. By this point they had not decided, or should I say, they had not told me that the job was mine....that was to come later.

I returned to my hotel to get changed and agreed to meet them a few hours later.

They collected me for dinner and within minutes of climbing into their car they told me that they had had the most wonderful day of discovery and that without question felt that I was the one to help them deal with the sale of the collection. The only remaining stumbling block was their concern on how to get the collection to the UK.

After many discussions and assurances on my behalf it was agreed that I would happily return to New York a few weeks later to oversee the wrapping and packing of the collection for its transatlantic journey! This was the final tipping point in their decision and assured that the collection would (as they said) return home to be sold! A few weeks later I was back in New York as their guest ready to spend three days logging, wrapping and packing each and every piece.

In the end we packed 9 three foot square crates to the brim with Clarice. We packed chargers at the bottom and then built up the boxes in layers with lotus jugs, smaller vases and then tea wares, filling holes and gaps with little pieces.....much as Clarice would have done back in the 1930s!

Once all packed I left the shipping in the hands of the clients who had selected a professional shipper to collect and crate it ahead of it being shipped air freight.

It was picked up and flown to Amsterdam, then on to Heathrow, where it cleared customs and was transported by road to the saleroom. The journey from their apartment to my saleroom took over two weeks in the end!! Two long and tense weeks where I spent each day tracking the progress of the consignment. My over-riding concern was that pieces would arrive damaged! When the boxes eventually arrived they had been put in two large wooden shipping crates which once opened revealed the boxes I had packed back in Manhattan! Two days work was unpacked in three hours.....and to my relief....each and every piece had arrived safe and sound!!

D: Will would-be buyers see the catalogue full of asterisks marked against each lot denoting any extra charges as in previous London CC sales catalogues?

W: I’m pleased to say that there are no extra or hidden charges for any potential buyers. The clients decided very early on that they would deal with all the costs relating to shipping and import duty.

D: What is so special about this collection? Is it full of rare pieces?

I have always said that this collection was not in the realms of the Sevi Guatelli collection. That was without question full of top flight examples of some of Clarice’s most desirable patterns. The issue with that sale was that many of the pieces had been amassed very publicly over a very short space of time. This meant that many of the pieces were ‘familiar’ to the buyers meaning no element of surprise. This sale is unique in that it is ‘sleepy’ and ‘fresh’ to market. Many of the pieces here have been off the market for over 30 years meaning that they have been unseen for a generation. The result, they offer a unique opportunity to purchase something new!!

D: Will buyers like this?

W: I think this is a wonderful opportunity for collectors old and new! For older more established collectors it offers the chance to buy a piece they maybe missed many years ago or address their developed and newly found interests in Clarice. For new collectors...well its a feast of fresh, fresh, fresh pieces!

D: Is it the scale - the sheer quantity which is so surprising?

D: What was the vendors criteria when buying these pieces?

W: There was really only two criteria in building this collection.....firstly it had to be by Clarice, secondly she had to fall in love with it! For me that explains the diversity in shape and pattern. One moment its a breathtaking abstract, the next a gloriously blousy and full floral!

D: Are any pieces from this American collection unique or have special qualities?

D: US collectors are well known for buying ‘large lumps of Clarice’ due to the spaciousness of their homes. Are there many large items in the sale and will UK collectors desire them in the same way?

W: This collector lived in a Manhattan apartment....that said it was a very large apartment. I think her collection is all about the love of the artist, plain and simple. That’s why it goes from miniatures to monumental Mei-Pings!!

D: Will the catalogue have condition stated about each item?

W: I have to be honest and say that I have long since stopped adding detailed condition reports in the catalogue text. In the early days I used to do this for the sales however found it very frustrating that collectors would only ask for the report again despite it being there in black and white. As such I have only made brief mention to damage or restoration and will deal with condition reports in detail on request from interested clients.

D: You have been keeping details of these lots very close to your chest over the past few months and raising the tension somewhat amongst collectors. Some are worried that other sales and Andrew Muir’s first foray into standing at Alexandra Palace, London will make buying a difficult decision? Will we be spoilt for choice or will the market be flooded and prices fall?

D: I’m delighted to learn that the sellers will continue to have a Clarice Cliff presence in their home. Are you personally excited by this sale a) as the sellers representative and b) as a CC collector yourself?

W: I can’t wait for the sale! As an auctioneer it represents months, even years of slog and hard work. It has taken me a long time to build my reputation in the Clarice Cliff world and I hope this shows everyone that I have the dedication and inspiration to handle and promote Clarice’s work to an international audience.

October 2014