Heritage Auctions’ May 2, 2014 Auction Lot Description of the Toronto Irregular Plate

“There is a mystery about this which stimulates the imagination.”

– A Study In Scarlet (STUD)

LOT #36265 – Original Brass Plate Celebrating Sherlock Holmes and the Publication of Vincent St… – Heritage Auctions April 2, 2014 Rare Book Sale, New York

We recently reprinted Jon Lellenberg’s 2014 article on The Mystery of The Three Irregular Plates. To accompany his article, we are reprinting the auction lot descriptions of the subsequent auction appearances of these plates. This post will deal with the “Toronto” plate that appeared in the April 2, 2014 sale by Heritage Auctions.

LOT #36265 – Original Brass Plate Celebrating Sherlock Holmes and the Publication of Vincent St…

A Mysterious Brass Plaque Celebrating Vincent Starrett and Sherlock Holmes

[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle & Sherlock Holmes]. Original Brass Plate Celebrating Sherlock Holmes and the Publication of Vincent Starrett’s 221B: Studies in Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps presented to Vincent Starrett at a publisher’s(?) event in Toronto on July 11, 1940, on the occasion of the publication of Starrett’s 221B – Studies in Sherlock Holmes (perhaps celebrating the Canadian publication or as a delayed congratulations after the BSI Dinner that year, which was held on January 30, 1940 and was the publication party for Starrett’s book). The plate is mounted on a walnut board measuring approximately 19.5 x 29.5 inches. The plate resembles a currency printing plate, with the great seal of the United States and the mystical Annuit Coeptis seal. At the center of the plate is the figure of Sherlock Holmes in profile. This is surrounded by the words “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Literary agent 1895.” At the upper center is “The Baker Street Irregulars / The MacMillan Company / Studies in Sherlock Holmes / January 30 1940” with “221 B” on either side of the date. Surrounding the central Holmes figure are eight radiating lines, four per side, bearing the fancifully named dishes served at the BSI dinner such as Ice Cream and Petit Signs of Four. Further there are six shillings inlaid, two engraved fingerprints, and a larger medallion of Queen Victoria below that of Holmes.
LOT #36265 – Original Brass Plate Celebrating Sherlock Holmes and the Publication of Vincent St… – Heritage Auctions April 2, 2014 Rare Book Sale, New York

On the reverse of the plaque is a square section of heavy cardboard measuring 6.5 x 5.5 inches, with a central watercolor showing through a beveled opening. There are numerous stamps and notes. It seems to have been addressed like a letter: “C/o Stanley Hopkins OBE / Theodore Fischer / Galerie Fischer [a Swiss auction house] Haldenstrasse 19 / Luzern / Telephone 2211325772.” This ties in with the Sherlock Holmes theme as Stanley Hopkins OBE appeared in “Mrs. Hudson Speaks” with Zazu Pitts. Also Stanley Hopkins appears in many of the stories, rising in rank from Chief Inspector to Superintendent to Assistant Commissioner. The reference here could mean that Theodore Fischer assumed the moniker of “Stanley Hopkins OBE” as his Sherlockian nickname, a common practice among the more serious devotees of the Great Detective. Or, as according to BSI historian, Jon Lellenberg recently posited in his January 18, 2014 article in The Saturday Review of Literature, the Hopkins reference could be a direct tie to Christopher Morley, “who used that circumlocution occasionally for remarks of his own in his ‘Clinical Notes of a Resident Patient‘ column in the Original Series BSJ in the latter 1940s.” As a side note: it is also bears mention from Mr. Lellenberg’s article that this plate was almost assuredly not presented to Starrett at the BSI Dinner (or in time for the dinner), since such an event would have certainly been mentioned by Edgar W. Smith in his minutes from the dinner.

This plate, at a cursory glance, is but a simple relic to celebrate Starrett’s publication of 221B: Studies in Sherlock Holmes (1940) and the Baker Street Irregulars (BSI) of the early 1940s; but after closer observation, several important associations with the BSI can be made (with the kind help of the bsiarchivalhistory.org website). For example, the fingerprints on the tray (at extreme left and right, between the inset coins) are apparently those of Starrett, and Harold S. Latham, Starrett’s editor at Macmillan. Also the legend at the bottom, “The Broad Street Irregulars” refers to the address of the offices of the American Bank Note Co. (whose name appears at the bottom right of the tray), who evidently manufactured this plate. Their involvement was no doubt due to the fact that one of their executives, Allan Murray Price (whose name appears on one of the central medallions), was an early member of BSI, who had once submitted a “near perfect” solution to Frank Morley’s Sherlock Holmes Crossword, which earned him a place at the first formal meeting and later the first formal dinner of the BSI, both in 1934. Also on the rear of the tray, there is an ink stamp “MDIVANI PARIS 1948” on the post-card, which indicates the one-time ownership of Denis Conan-Doyle, one of the sons of Sir Arthur (who had married the Georgian pretend-princess Nina Mdivani, but that’s another story). There is a curious legend in the bottom-center of the plate: “LAMBIE & BARROMAN”; this seems to refer to Helen Lambie and Mary Barrowman who were key witnesses in the 1909 controversial Oscar Slater murder case, which Sir Arthur followed (he, like many people were convinced of Slater’s innocence and of the corrupted nature of his trial, and even wrote The Case of Oscar Slater in 1912, pleading for Slater’s pardon – Slater had his conviction thrown out and was freed in 1928). Why these two earned mention on this plate is an actual mystery. And the overall mystery regarding when and why this plate was produced lingers on, perhaps never to be deduced. Reference: Jon Lellenberg, “The Mystery of the Three Irregular Plates,” in The Saturday Review of Literature, January 18, 2014.

Service and Handling Description: Framed – with Glass, Medium

This product went to auction on April 2, 2014 but did not sell. You can few the original listing HERE.