Description
Royal House Antiques
Royal House Antiques is delighted to offer for sale this very rare and highly collectable Oscar Nemon 18ct gold bust sitting on a Malachite base of Winston Churchill retailed through Asprey & Co London
Please note the delivery fee listed is just a guide, it covers within the M25 only for the UK and local Europe only for international, if you would like an accurate quote please send me your postcode and I’ll provide you with the exact price
What a beautiful and exceptional quality piece of desk art. I’ve only ever seen on other of these and it was around 6-7 years ago in 14ct gold, this is the only known example in 18ct gold.
The condition is very very fine, the base is free from chips and patination, the bust itself is as good as they day Nemon finished it.
Dimensions
Height:- 9.2cm
Width:- 3.5cm
Depth:- 5.3cm
Weight:- 157 grams for the 18ct gold head alone without the base, with the base its 327 grames
Please note all measurements are taken at the widest point, if you would like any additional or specific measurements, please ask
Nemon and Churchill
His hands on his hips, about to stride forwards, Oscar Nemon’s 1970 bronze of Sir Winston Churchill stands at the heart of British democracy – in the Members’ Lobby of the House of Commons. It is a fitting place for the work of the twentieth century’s most distinguished portrait sculptor, and a man who earned Churchill’s respect as well as his friendship.
Nemon wrote in 1953 that he considered Churchill “one of the most remarkable personalities of all time”, having admired him throughout the war. The two men first met at the La Mamounia Hotel in Marrakech early in 1951. Born in Yugoslavia, Nemon had lived in Britain since the 1930s, but had lost almost all his family to the Holocaust, leading him to view Churchill with the depth of feeling which brings his portraits of the statesman so intensely to life.
Lady Churchill asked Nemon if she could keep the terracotta bust, he made at La Mamounia because it “represents to me my husband as I see him and as I think of him.” Shaped in Nemon’s hotel room, it began a creative collaboration between the two men which made Nemon Churchill’s choice of sculptor when Elizabeth II commissioned a bust of Sir Winston for Windsor Castle in 1952.
Other notable portraits followed, including a 1955 seated bronze for the Guildhall, which Churchill unveiled, calling it “a very good likeness.” They reflect the energy of the sittings during which they were created. In his unpublished Memoir, Nemon recorded finding his distinguished subject “bellicose, challenging, and deliberately provocative”. The resulting sculptures became “not merely a likeness, but a biography of his life” — as Nemon had told a journalist he hoped they would when interviewed while sculpting Churchill during the 1950s. Nemon was himself the subject of Churchill’s only sculpture, created while Nemon was sculpting Churchill, and now on display at Chartwell and in the Churchill Musuem.
Nemon’s bronzes of Sir Winston Churchill are now to be found all over the world. They stand in Bletchley Park, Chartwell, Churchill College Cambridge, the Cabinet War Rooms, The Guildhall, and the Houses of Parliament in London, St. Margaret’s Bay, Dover, in Westerham, Kent, at Windsor Palace, in Brussels, Copenhagen, Luxemborg, Monte Carlo, Moscow, Paris, Zagreb, Israel, Quebec, Toronto, Edmonton, Fredericton, Halifax, Kansas City, Hyde Park, New York State, Canberra and Mexico City.
Bronze resin and resin casts of Nemon’s busts of Churchill are for sale through the Estate of Nemon website, eBay, at the Churchill Museum, Chartwell, Blenheim Palace, and the National Portrait Gallery.
Any questions please feel free to ask before you bid.
ABOUT US
Royal House Antiques is a privately owned family ran business founded in Wimbledon SW19 and now based in Pulborough RH20. We specialise in finding, restoring very fine luxury antique leather seating, along with every single other type of antique ranging from the 16th century to the 20th century. We also stock a number of designer brands such as Fritz Hansen, Ralph Lauren, Cavalli, Charles & Ray Eames, Vitra, David Linley, Rolex, Tiffany, Jager Le Coulter and so on
PAYMENTS
We accept payment via Bitcoin, Bitcoin cash, Ethereum, Bacs, Chaps, PayPal or Card, we would kindly ask that all items are paid for within 48 hours and collected within 7 working days, we can hold all paid items for 14 days free of charge, there after a £20 a week storage fee will apply. We have long term storage which is very economically priced, we are happy to hold stock for as long as needed providing it is arranged prior to the purchase
If sold items aren’t collected within three months and no arrangements have been made for long term storage you will forfeit the item and payment
CONDITION
Please view the very detailed pictures as they form part of the description pertaining to the condition. Please also ask any questions before you bid and not after, all of our items are sold as seen and as listed
Royal House Antiques cannot be held liable for any independent assumptions made regarding the items we sell, if you are unsure on any point, please feel free to ask for clarity
Please note vintage period and original items such as leather seating will always have natural patina in the form of creasing and wear, we recommend annual waxing to ensure no moisture is lost, also hand dyed leather is not recommended to sit in direct sunlight for prolonged periods of time as it will dry out and fade
DELIVERY OR COLLECTION
This item is available for collection from our Pulborough warehouses RH20-1DF by appointment only, alternatively we can have it delivered nationwide to include Scotland, Wales and Ireland for a fee
Please contact me via email, alternatively my contact information is under the business seller section of the listing, with your postcode for a delivery quotation, as mentioned above the fee listed covers with the M25 for the UK, for international deliveries the amount listed covers local Europe only so parts of Belgium and France
Please be sure to include which item you would like to buy as the price is determined on size and distance, if you would like more than one piece of furniture the courier offers a substantial discount on the second and third item, for international shipping please view the below information
COURIER, LARGE ITEMS ONLY THAT CAN’T BE POSTED
We can arrange delivery nationwide, mostly with our nominated couriers, for Europe we use one reasonably priced professional company that we trust, for the rest of the world we use international shippers that can send any size item crated via air freight within 7-14 days after crating or soft packed and container shipped via sea freight within 30-60 days. The time frames outlined are guides only, non-domestic shipping is almost entirely governed by the airlines, sea freight loading times and custom clearances
Whomever delivers will always require help on the larger items to unload, the price you will be quoted will always be based on this assumption, if this is not possible, please let us know as it will affect the price to send a two-person team
Delivery is to the ground floor only, again if you need help upstairs or in flats etc that’s absolutely not a problem, the couriers charge £10-£20 per flight per man per item, if you have a working elevator then naturally there’s no additional fee
All courier fees are paid by yourself directly to the courier company, the contract for delivery is between yourselves the client and whichever courier you chose from those available I’m happy to accommodate your own courier after a cleared payment has been received, they need to book in a collection time with at least 24 hours notice, all collections must be made within 14 working days of the close of the sale unless agreed by prior arrangement
IMPORT DUTY
Most countries charge some kind of import duty however almost all of our items won’t incur any charges as the items are exempt from tax due to the age and materials used
For European deliveries the price you will be quoted will include all clearance documentation and any customs charges so there won’t be any additional fees
For international deliveries such as the United States there can be some import duty to pay and or a clearance fee, I would estimate that 99% of all deliveries clear customs without being stopped for either
All duties are the responsibility of the purchaser who is the importer, they can’t be covered by the seller or shipping agent or factored in with additional retrospective discounts
RETURNS
Royal House Antiques offers a no quibble return policy if the item is not as described, if there are any issues with the piece you will be refunded in full once the item has been returned and inspected within 14 days, alternatively if there is a small issue, we can discuss finding a mutual resolution that makes all parties happy
We don’t offer a sale on approval service which means you can purchase the item, have it delivered and if you simply don’t like it, return it, this comes under change of mind or doesn’t fit. There is a lot of time, money and work involved in transporting goods around the world, the costs incurred can be vast so my advice would be if you are unsure on a piece please ask as many questions as you like to make sure you understand everything before you buy, if you are still unsure then please either arrange a viewing in person or if that’s not possible then don’t buy from an online retailer, perhaps look for a local gallery instead