An AMERICAN SILVER, ENAMEL AND mother-of-pearl "LAWsON'S DREAMER" GAME, Tiffany & Co., New York, circa 1900

the shaped base  applied in back of the base with a polar bear dressed as a sailor seated on a piling, the bear holding a rope wrapped around the piling and extending onto the base into three coils each centered by a rope-twist pole supporting graduated white and pink mother-of-pearl discs, the front of the base applied with an enamelled burgee and flanked by a compass and open well, the left side engraved ON BOARD THE DREAMER, front side with pull-out drawer, engraved on base with instructions

missing something to left of burgee, otherwise good condition
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Controversial businessman and author Thomas William Lawson (1857-1925) was born in Charleston, MA, the son of a carpenter.  As a teen he fled home to become a bank clerk in Boston and soon began speculating in stocks, specifically those of copper mining companies.  By the age of thirty he had amassed a personal fortune of more than $10 million, and by 1900 had a net worth of more than $50 million, in part due to the 1899 formation of Amalgamated Copper Mining Company, which he founded with William Rockefeller and Henry H. Rogers.  Lawson was a collector of both Tiffany and Gorham silver, having commissioned a number of yachting trophies from Tiffany and purchasing the Martelé silver dressing table and stool exhibited at the Exposition Universalle, Paris, 1900.  In the spring of 1900 he launched his newly completed yacht Dreamer, and it was noted in the New York Times on 28 April 1900 that "Very few private yachts afloat or building will equal in convenience and luxury of appointment the steam yacht Dreamer".  The present lot is recorded in Tiffany's archives as having been finished on 3 August 1900, and listed as "Puzzle (Mr. T.W. Lawson)." 

The inscription on the underside reads: "This is designed by and made for Thomas W. Lawson for his guests on the "Dreamer" Herbert Gray, The puzzle is first place the discs on one rope's end, the smaller always on the larger, then remove the pyramid to either of the other ropes ends, one disc at a time without ever putting a larger on a smaller.  It requires at least four hundred and eighty -four moves to accomplish this."