Page 8 - September 21 2021 MAnfred Arnold Collection snuff bottles Bonhams NYC

In the late summer of 1965, Manfred returned by company ship to New York via
the Philippines. In mid-1966 when strolling on Fifth Avenue, Manfred noticed a
selection of snuff bottles on display in a shop window and was deeply attracted to
an inside-painted bottle by the talented young living artist Liu Shouben (b. 1943) and
purchased it. This started his love and addiction for inside-painted specimens, which
dominate his collection. He particularly focused on the works of Ma Shaoxuan (1867-
1939).

Manfred began to build a worthy snuff bottle library. His first book purchase, like
many, was Bob C. Steven’s ground-breaking Collector’s Book of Snuff Bottles,
which he still considers a ‘bible’ in the field. He used this as a template for his own
collecting habits, even securing three bottles illustrated in the famous publication,
and offered in this sale. Another small treasure, discovered in a London bookstore
on another strolling excursion is a rare 1840 First Edition “A Pinch of Snuff”
‘anonymously ‘authored’ by ‘Dean Snift of Brazen-Nose’ – a play on snuff taking and
the Oxford college, which perhaps, the author attended (figs. 3 & 4).

Manfred judiciously sought advice from auction houses and numerous dealers, which
included Robert Hall, Robert Kleiner, The Yang Family, Clare Chu, Ning Wang, myself,
Fig. 2 Tokyo Marriage Certificate and of course, the doyen of the snuff bottle world, Hugh M. Moss.

His collecting expanded into all fields of the snuff bottle genres, from enamels, glass,
hardstones, organic and ceramic wares, whilst maintaining an avid interest in inside-
painted examples.

He finally left the German shipping company to work with an Anglo-American bank
on a special ship finance project which once again took him on a circuitous world
journey including stays in South Africa, South Korea and India and concomitant
visits to Indonesia, Greece, Egypt, Norway, Sweden, London, Brazil and more. In
1980, while working for an American agricultural producer, Manfred spent a month in
Shanghai and Beijing on a shipping project. On many of his trips abroad to London,
Singapore Hong Kong and China, Manfred purchased a variety of
snuff bottles.

Before his retirement in 1985, Manfred worked closely with a Chinese ship owner
running a fleet of approximately 35 commercial cargo ships. In his ‘retirement’
he became a full-time and successful maritime arbitrator, served five terms as
the president of the Society of Maritime Arbitrators, Inc. New York and continues
his arbitration practice to this date. On one of his Singapore trips for a maritime

Fig. 3 A 'Pinch of Snuff 'by Dean Snift,
of Brazen-Nose.

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