End of an Era - Higgins Armory Museum to close
 

The financial crisis has claimed another victim:

Higgins Integration

The majority of the collection (but, presumably, none of its best items) is being sold with the first large tranche coming under the hammer on March 20 at Thomas Del Mar in London.

Very sad to hear. I never had a chance to visit myself but I it certainly had a wonderful reputation. At least some of the collections are being saved and not all is being sold off.

One the worst events for arms and armour enthusiasts of this time being period. I can imagine how many, including yourself Lee, become aware of this announcement with the saddest feeling.
I had the privilege to have recently visited this charismatic place.
Let us hope that its best contents will be kept and still in public exhibition in its new residence.

I've known about this for several days. I've donated stuff for thier educational program as well as financially over the years. David Nagel's wife ( used to head the educational department ) kidnapped my daughter when she was 4 for most of a day back in the 90's on a visit there and took her on a personal tour. I have friends who teach classes there in various aspects of WMA. This is as sad a day as ever thier was as this invaluable resource announces its closing.

For those not familiar with the museum characteristic building.

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There is nothing like provenance...
 

The selection of items from the Higgins performed strongly with many objects exceeding the high estimate several times over.

Similar performance was seen at Bonham's auction of items from the E. A. Christensen collection.

There is nothing like solid, well documented provenance to bring up the price.

Astonishing.
I bet the owner of the Alexandria Arsenal Mamluk sword will comission the making of a chest to keep it safe.

Hello Lee,

Well, I'd posit that most estimates were classic English understatement or a mere selling strategy to begin with rather than true estimates of current market prices.

Still, there is no doubt that the provenance also encouraged investment bidders and allowed quite a few pieces to perform very strongly.

Regards,
Kai

I'm just happy I bought something. Apart from the reputation, the long lines of provenance are very interesting and are a rarity to find, something which offers very good insight in to items that are some times hard to date.

Gavin

true
 

Kai - I'll agree that the auction houses deliberately low ball their estimate ranges to bring more punters in the door. 'English understatement' is a nice euphemism for the practice. I bid on an item in the Christensen sale and was doubtful of my chances even at 2x the high estimate. I was not even the underbidder and it went for 6x.

freebooter - Congratulations; I'll look forward to seeing your new acquisition.

Hi Lee and all,


Two days ago, I received a notice by the same auction house as before, Thomas Del Mar, that there will be another London sale of contents from the Higgins Armory on May 7 this year.

I cannot tell whether this sale is going to comprise the whole of what used to be 'The Higgins' but in all probability it will. This, I'm afraid, would really mean the end of an era.

I still remember many prices literally going through the roof last year, fetching more than triple of what they would have made without that provenance ...


Michael

I am to young to have seen this amazing museum (to far away), but i share the sad mood :(
It seems that the ruling power (governments) are more likely to pour money into quicksand than preserving educational significant and historical heritages