In my May 8 blog, I showed an unrecorded and tiny Red Barn that has just sold to the trade for a lot of money. This must be the most expensive piece of property in Britain, where property is already by no means cheap! Despite that, it changed hands again quite quickly, and I now have additional pictures of it, which I am able to share. All I can say is WOW! Worth every penny, is it not? A true little gem. The tiny dumpy couple standing to the side are, of course, William Corder and Maria Marten, the victim-to-be. Interestingly, these little figures appear in no other context. And I know of no other example of this Red Barn. All quite puzzling, is it not? The figure is definitely attributable to "Sherratt." That base with two red lines occurs on a good number of other "Sherratt" figures, and the overall color palette etc. screams "Sherratt."
This week, a collector sent me this photograph of yet another tiny treasure.
This baby is under 3" tall, and photographs don't do it justice. Small figures like these just nestle in the palm of the hand and your finger instinctively curl to clutch them. The collector was thrilled--in fact, he had bought three figures he did not want just to get this one. I first saw tiny figures like this in a large collection, and they really popped standing next to larger figures. These figures are inexpensive--but finding them is almost impossible. A year or two ago, I previewed a UK auction. The gentleman who had cataloged the sale stood alongside me amongst a veritable hoard of treasures....and he too was magnetically drawn to a pair of tiny figures. He picked them up, saying how he would love to own them. You can see this pair (with yellow hats) below, along with some of the other tiny figures in my archive.
Notice the pair of naked children shivering in front of a bocage, above. I have seen these figures in another context. They also sit alongside a sweet folly of sorts, below.
I wish I owned this small group. It came up for auction a couple of years ago, and I was astounded that it sold for a four-figure amount, in sterling. I was naive! The buyer was a London dealer, who featured it in his next exhibition. Although it must have more than doubled in price, it sold immediately. Ah well, you can't have it all!
