Roland Meiners (Auktionshaus Dr. Wilhelm Derichs) presents the supplement volume to the auction series of the Fritz Trost collection ‘Kingdom of Württemberg 1851 to 1875’

(wm-pcp) The unique series of eight TROST auctions certainly did not take place at a time that one would have expected. When it was announced on the APHV website on 5 November 2019, the world was still more or less in order. But it was no longer in order when the date for the first auction in Stuttgart on 4 April 2020 was set. Even though the catalogues for this auction had already been printed, the global coronavirus pandemic made it impossible to hold the auction. On 4 September 2020, Meiners informed interested parties of a new date, with 26 September 2020 now being considered. Looking back, Meiners writes: ‘I was very afraid that the whole auction series could fall through due to the cancellation of the first auction. But we were very lucky with the consigning family, the Trost family was firmly on our side.’

The result of this first auction was already a record: a total starting price of 552,650 euros was matched by a total hammer price of 1,430,620 euros. All lots were sold, nothing remained unsold. All of this was to be repeated in the next seven auctions. 2,653 selected, beautiful, valuable and significant Württemberg lots were sold, despite all the world’s political adversity (inflation, the war in Ukraine, terrorist attacks on Israel).

In this beautifully produced supplement volume, Meiners reviews all of this once again, presenting in a condensed form (pp. 37–48) all of the hammer prices of the individual auction lots, which were counted consecutively from the first auction (no. 1) to the second (no. 2,653). This is a novelty, as are the accompanying historical studies by Prof. Dr. Herbert Zielinski, who whetted the appetite for the respective auction in seven catalogues with readable contributions, and another contribution was contributed by Wolfgang Maassen. These can also be read again on pages 49-106. This special book makes the auction catalogue series a publication worth preserving that does not need to fear comparison.

Contact: Auctioneers Dr. Derichs Cologne, Bonner Straße 501, 50968 Cologne (Marienburg), Tel. 02 21/2 57 66 02, E-Mail: derichs_gmbh@web.de

Translated with DeepL (www.deepl.com)