Charlton Hall will offer at auction an important collection of porcelain, silver, furniture, fine and decorative art and historic weapons recently deaccessioned from the Centennial Museum at the University of Texas at El Paso. The three-day auction entitled From Museum Vaults is scheduled to be held on December 4th, 5th and 6th.

This highly important collection of 17th through early 20th century decorative art was assembled by a prominent El Paso family during the turn-of-the-century and gifted to the museum in the late 1960s. Further deaccessions consist of edged weapons and firearms purchased by the museum in the 1930s-1950s in part from the famed Philip Medicus collection of New York. The Centennial Museum has focused its mission on producing exhibitions that highlight the cultural and natural history of the Southwest which relegated these unrelated European decorative art and weapon collections to the storage vaults. The proceeds from the sale of these deaccessioned items will go towards building the museum’s collections acquisition fund.

Highlights from the sale include an extensive collection of Russian silver and enamel pieces including a rare Fabergé silver flatware service comprised of 275 pieces in the original fitted box, circa 1908 and an exquisite Russian cloisonné and vermeil cased tea service by Pavel Ovchinikov. Also offered are numerous Limoges enamel plaques including a pair of mythical subject plaques signed Jacques Laudin from the 16th/17th century.  The sale will feature fine examples of French and continental furniture the most prominent of which are four pieces by Francois Linke, a Donald Ross Louis XVI style parquetry inlaid Bonheur du jour, marked Edwards & Roberts from the  mid 19th century, and a Louis XVI style marbletop center table stamped L. Cuennieres, Paris, from the late 19th century. Several  extraordinary and rare European porcelain objects by KPM, Sevres, and Meissen are showcased in the auction including a pair of Sevres presentation vases from the World’s Fair dated 1874, a Meissen figure of Count Bruhl’s Tailor, a KPM jewelry chest dated 1886 and a rare Meissen ormolu-mounted potpourri  from the 18th/19th century. Also featured is an extensive collection of French clocks, a very fine collection of Chinese Export porcelain, and one of the largest and rarest collections of 18th and 19th century fans. The three-day sale will include over 1300 objects from these important collections with Friday’s auction consisting of antique edged weaponry from the Philip Medicus collection, antique long rifles, English, American and European sporting guns and fine sporting art.

Auction Dates:

Friday 4 December at 2pm (Lots 1-299)

Saturday 5 December at 10am (Lots 300-899)

Sunday 6 December at 2pm (900-1388)

Public Viewing:

Wednesday 2 December (12noon-8pm)
Thursday 3 December (10am-6pm)
Friday 4 December (10am-6pm)
Saturday 5 December (8am-12noon)
Sunday 6 December (11am-1pm)