As much as $240,000 had been expected for an 18th century porcelain snuff box made for Poland’s king, August III. After a telephone bidding war, however, the box adorned with a Dresden landscape finally sold for $1.4m, which was more than five times its high estimate. The price was a new world record for a porcelain snuff box.
By the last gavel, the 80-lot sale of what had been billed the greatest snuff box collection of the 20th century had realized $2.7. That was more than $1 million above the auction’s high estimate. Other standout results included a Meissen oval box from the “toilet service” of Queen Maria Amalia Christina of Naples and Sicily ($124,780), a gold-mounted circular box featuring a portrait of Maria Josepha, Queen of Poland ($89,600), and an oval gilt box described as either Ellwangen or Schrezheim in origin ($84,500).
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