CURIOSITY

The day, less lively than yesterday, offered us, apart from a book sale held by Mr. Flagel, the continuation of the Haviland collection, presided over by Mr. Lair Dubreuil, assisted by Messrs. Vignier and Portier. When one considers that this is the fifteenth sale of the same estate, one wonders how a single man could have had the material time to bring together such a quantity of things. Nothing very important, yesterday, among these prints sought after by the initiated. Un soir d'été, by Yeishi, was paid 2,000 francs; a diptych by Shunsho, 1,100 francs; an oban by Toyokuni, 1,100 francs, and another, by Hokusaï, Promeneur flânant, 1,550 francs. In the books, an album by the same, for which the expert was asking 2,550 francs, remained at 650 francs. It was an end-of-day opportunity to seize on the fly.
Meanwhile, M° G. Marlio continued the sale of Mme Flahaut, started yesterday by M Couturier. Vacation too long and too busy; how do the organizers of these sales not understand that, because of this, they discourage the amateurs? Precisely, yesterday, the capital piece of the sale came at the end of the session. It was a large hollow dish, in Hispano-Moorish earthenware; placed on the table at 10,000 francs, it was pushed by a dealer up to 140,000 francs, a surprising price, given that this piece was announced with cracks and fractures!…

LA FURETIÈRE