A Baccarat crystal and bronze elephant liqueur caddy crafted in France more than 140 years ago fetched $120,000 at auction Tuesday night.
The rare piece once owned by American industrialist George Westinghouse was expected to sell for between $50,000 and $100,000, but sold for more despite minor condition issues, said Peter Boyle, owner of Victoria-based Lund’s Auctions and Appraisals.
Boyle said an American bought the Baccarat piece during the online auction and will likely spend another $50,000 restoring it. The two-foot-tall, 80-pound elephant had a small piece of its trunk broken off, but the inch-long section was included in the sale.
Boyle believes the piece is based on a similar Baccarat elephant created either for the World’s Fair in Paris in 1878 or shortly after that event, around 1880. Baccarat is a French luxury brand and manufacturer of crystal dating back to 1764.
The elephant would have been a special order, he said. The liqueur caddy holds four decanters. The top section of the elephant’s palanquin or covered litter with its bottles can be lifted out and replaced with a monogrammed Baccarat vase, which was included in the offering.
The design on the vase features two intertwined “Ws” for Westinghouse and Walker — Westinghouse’s wife was Marguerite Erskine Walker. Boyle said a symbol below represents Erskine Park in Massachusetts, where the couple had a summer residence.
Boyle believes the elephant was a wedding gift or special present exchanged between George and Marguerite.
Westinghouse, who died in 1914, was a pioneer in engineering and electricity and held more than 300 patents.
The elephant is from Westinghouse’s estate and was among several family items in the auction. Members of the Westinghouse family have lived in Greater Victoria, Boyle said.
Boyle said there were other surprises at Tuesday’s auction.
A pair of Chinese gilt bronze and enamel elephants — each about 16 inches high — sold for a whopping $150,000 to an overseas buyer. That came as a surprise to Boyle, who had estimated the figures prior to the auction at between $2,000 and $4,000.
“You just never know,” he said Wednesday. “There may have been more about these than what we knew… They might have been from a royal imperial palace for something. It’s difficult to know.”
A book entitled Our Journal in The Pacific by officers of the HMS Zealous and an album of six photos showing early settlements in Victoria and Esquimalt brought $13,000 from a British Columbia buyer, well over estimates of between $2,000 and $3,000.
— With files from Carla Wilson
