Morphy's is an auctioneer which has auctioned a variety of collectibles over the years. It is perhaps best known for vintage toys, and recently teamed up with Sparkle City to launch a comic book department.
Now, however, it has staked its claim as a key auctioneer of antique silver, with some exquisite examples fetching the prices they deserved last weekend.
In total, they achieved over $1.62m in their sale of antiques, art and vintage collectibles on February 24-25 in their Pennsylvania auction house with 1,800 people bidding either in person, down the phone line or over the internet.
There were 1,404 lots offered, but the two biggest sellers were right alongside each other: two classic examples of Tiffany silver which brought $246,000.
"We knew the silver was special and of fantastic quality. There was great interest in all of the antique silver prior to and during the auction," commented Morphy's CEO Dan Morphy.
"Even when the bidding on each of the Tiffany lots reached $80,000, there were still four active players, and at $90,000, there were three."
 The silver antique Tiffany bowls and candelabra |
In the final cut, it was a collector from New York who won both of the headliners . They were two sets of pairs:
A pair of late 19th century sterling centre bowls with domed bases achieved $134,400 (easily doubling their $40,000-$60,000 listing).
These were bested by a pair of nine-arm candelabra that lit up the gallery, fetching $111,600 against their $60,000-$80,000 estimates. Both lots featured marine motifs including seahorses and mermaids.
Collectors later informed the auctioneer that a single Tiffany candelabrum identical to the pair offered had brought $20,000 in a major New York auction, underlining the achievement.
