Classic Rotary Phones Forum

Telephone Talk => Auction Talk => Topic started by: Owain on December 17, 2018, 04:31:50 PM

Title: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: Owain on December 17, 2018, 04:31:50 PM
One of the world's most famous Surrealist art works has been bought by the National Galleries of Scotland to stop it leaving the country.

Salvador Dali's Lobster Telephone was sold at auction but was "saved for the nation" after UK museums were given the chance to match the sale price.

The famous sculpture will now go on display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh.

It was bought for £853,000, most of which came from a private fund.

It is one of 11 lobster telephones made for Dali's patron Edward James in the 1930s.

James was born in 1907 at his family's summer house, Greywalls, at Gullane, in East Lothian.

His family was immensely wealthy, owning a vast estate at West Dean in West Sussex

The lobster receivers were made to fit to telephones at James's house in Wimpole Street, central London, and at West Dean.

Four of the lobsters were painted red, and seven were painted white.

The Lobster Telephones are now almost all in museum collections around the world.

The Tate Modern in London has a red version on a black telephone.

The white version acquired by the National Galleries of Scotland had remained with the Edward James Foundation in West Sussex.

It was sold at auction but because of its "artistic and historical importance" it was subject to an export licence deferral.

This allowed the National Galleries to match the amount it had sold for.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-46564867

Attached file picture credit: National Galleries of Scotland (https://www.nationalgalleries.org/)
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: HarrySmith on December 17, 2018, 04:50:54 PM
WOW!!! That's over a miilion dollars :o

$1,076,008.32 !!
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: LarryInMichigan on December 17, 2018, 05:02:33 PM
QuoteOne of the world's most famous Surrealist art works has been bought by the National Galleries of Scotland to stop it leaving the country.
Salvador Dali's Lobster Telephone was sold at auction but was "saved for the nation" after UK museums were given the chance to match the sale price.

If it were in my country, I would consider paying to make it leave.

Larry
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: twocvbloke on December 17, 2018, 05:19:21 PM
That's one expensive crustacean, hope they included butter to go with it...  :o
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: HarrySmith on December 17, 2018, 05:22:55 PM
Now watch for all the fakes to come up with ridiculous prices! We have a topic with a few of them:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3970.0
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: RB on December 17, 2018, 05:25:29 PM
I'm with Larry on that one,,,yuck! :(
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: FABphones on December 17, 2018, 05:33:19 PM
Quote from: HarrySmith on December 17, 2018, 05:22:55 PM
Now watch for all the fakes....

Well I've enough ivory spares to make the Bakelite section, a half used ivory rattlecan in the garage, and I'm sure me mates Nan has one of those plastic lobsters on her kitchen wall......  ;D  ;)
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: twocvbloke on December 17, 2018, 05:46:14 PM
Maybe someone could create a "modern" take on the Lobsterphone, using an NT Dawn phone and turning it into a "Crabphone"...  ;D
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: Butch Harlow on December 17, 2018, 07:37:53 PM
There have been fakes of this on Ebay for a long time. Let's see if I can find one...
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: Butch Harlow on December 17, 2018, 07:39:45 PM
Instantly...

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F122798861336 (https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F122798861336)
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: Babybearjs on December 17, 2018, 11:38:59 PM
LOL! this is crazy! why would ANYONE want one of these, original or not! the artist must have really been bored or some dumb fool commissioned him to create that monstrosity! OMG! what an UGLY phone! British, or not!
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: Dan F on December 18, 2018, 02:04:26 AM
twenty bucks!
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: LarryInMichigan on December 18, 2018, 11:08:02 AM
I suppose that the proper protocol when answering a call with that phone is to say "Hello Dali" ::)
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: Dan/Panther on December 18, 2018, 12:23:21 PM
Larry I'm with you....WHY  ??? What a perfectly useless piece of art.

D/P
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: tubaman on December 18, 2018, 01:29:19 PM
Mounting the dial finger wheel on top of the stop must have taken some doing!

So, a phone that would usually fetch about £300 is worth £853K because Dali has stuck a resin lobster on the top. The world has gone crazy!
:o
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: twocvbloke on December 18, 2018, 03:56:05 PM
Quote from: tubaman on December 18, 2018, 01:29:19 PM
Mounting the dial finger wheel on top of the stop must have taken some doing!

It does look that way, but looking closely at it, the lighting makes the finger stop blend in with the finger wheel, so it is in the right place, just badly lit... :)
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: Owain on December 18, 2018, 04:32:55 PM
Quote from: FABphones on December 17, 2018, 05:33:19 PM
Well I've enough ivory spares to make the Bakelite section, a half used ivory rattlecan in the garage, and I'm sure me mates Nan has one of those plastic lobsters on her kitchen wall......  ;D  ;)

Must be wurf a grand dahn Hoxton way ...
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: Sargeguy on December 19, 2018, 07:53:35 PM
A masterpiece of Surrealism!
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: Fabius on December 19, 2018, 11:13:58 PM
Quote from: tubaman on December 18, 2018, 01:29:19 PM


So, a phone that would usually fetch about £300 is worth £853K because Dali has stuck a resin lobster on the top.

But he was the first to do it, thus the big bucks.
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: 19and41 on December 20, 2018, 08:32:13 PM
I'm glad his works are so expensive now.  I'd hate to live with any of them long enough for them to develop their value.
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: twocvbloke on December 20, 2018, 09:24:53 PM
I never quite understand this type of art, but each to their own, at least it's not an unmade bed like one example of "art" seems to be... ???

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bed
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: Fabius on December 22, 2018, 10:25:42 AM
When auctioned by Christie's in July 2014, the piece was sold for a little over £2.5 million.

FYI My bed is available! Offers accepted Hurry before it goes to Christie's.
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: twocvbloke on December 22, 2018, 11:35:47 AM
If her bed was worth that much, my entire bedroom must be worth a billion... ;D
Title: Re: Phone sells for £853,000 at auction
Post by: Jim Stettler on December 22, 2018, 02:07:43 PM
Quote from: twocvbloke on December 22, 2018, 11:35:47 AM
If her bed was worth that much, my entire bedroom must be worth a billion... ;D
My bedroom is that messy as well.
Jim S.