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CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2019
Saleroom
SWANN, USA
The art that
made Moby Dick
Herman Melville’s Moby Dick was a commercial
failure when fi rst published in 1851 but when
re-published in 1922, with vivid cover artwork
and colour illustrations, it rehabilitated
Melville’s reputation, established the work
as a classic of American literature and
launched a young illustrator’s prolifi c career.
Mead Schaeff er was 24 when he was
commissioned to produce the artwork for
the 1922 illustrated edition. His original oil
painting for the frontispiece and dust jacket
is expected to fetch $25,000-35,000
(£19,300-27,000) when it comes up at
Swann Auction Galleries’ Illustration Art
sale in New York on 4 June.
COYS, GERMANY
Berlin III’s BMW racecar breeding
Just as Italian hydroplanes of the early post-war years relied on exotic and highly
tuned Maserati, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo car engines, there was a smaller, fl edgling
scene in Germany that relied on the very best of German engineering.
Berlin III, a rare survivor discovered in a backyard near Mainz in 2003, is
propelled by a legendary racing engine that powered the equally legendary BMW
328 sports racing car to victories, including a class win in the 1938 Mille Miglia. The
dramatic-looking race boat with BMW hallmark split-ventilators over a laminated
timber hull on cedar frames was built in 1950 for Jürgen Baginski, whose family’s
pharmaceutical business cushioned him from the economic hardships most
Germans faced.
The distinctive lines of Berlin III, by noted designer Max Steaves, drew on
the Class D racing runabouts of the American Powerboat Federation and
provided Baginski with success in the European 2-litre Class E category,
before she was sidelined and forgotten until 2003.
Since her 2,500-man-hour restoration from 2006 to 2010, Berlin III has
been kept on the button. And its 1,998cc engine, originally from a BMW 321,
has been rebuilt and tuned to fearsome 328 spec with triple carbs and
hemi-head, apparently producing the 130hp achieved by Mille Miglia racers.
With an estimate of €180,000-240,000 (£155,750-207,600) at the 13 April
classic car auction in Essen, Germany, Berlin III could be considered a relative
snip compared with the £500,000 or more that BMW 328 cars regularly achieve.
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Anyone who’s read Moby Dick will know that whaling
involved sustained periods of barely endurable boredom
- often 300 pages or more – followed by short bursts of
frenzy and gore. Yet, it was in their downtime that sailors
produced intricately detailed scrimshaw carvings on
whales’ teeth.
The master of the genre was Edward Burdett
(1805-1833) who, at the age of 28, was dragged to his
death when he became entangled in a line attached to a whale.
On his penultimate voyage, on the whaler William Tell between
November 1829 and February 1833, the Nantucket seaman-artist
produced this piece that may challenge and perhaps even surpass
the world record auction price of $456,000 (£350,600), paid in
2017 for another work by Burdett produced on the same voyage.
One of the keys to value lies in the simple inscription: “Engraved
by Edward Burdett of Nantucket Onboard the Ship William Tell.”
It’s rare enough for scrimshaw to be identifi ably signed by a
named artist, let alone one of Burdett’s standing. Added to that are the
subject, size (8in/20cm), condition and the fact that it can be tagged
to a time and place. The exceptional detail includes a look-out at the
masthead and rooster-form weather vane atop a lighthouse. In short,
it’s a narrative in miniature. Moreover, its provenance is by descent
from the William Tell’s master Stephen Potter. All these factors add
up to an estimate of $320,000-380,000, though that could well be
exceeded at Eldred’s 25 July marine sale.
Whale of a price
ELDRED’S, USA
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Edited by Dave Selby