Antiques & Fine Art - June Auction Report
Monday's auction of Antiques & Fine Art was our largest sale of recent times at over 1000 lots. This auction report details highlight lots and strong hammer prices.
The sale commenced with a collection of mainly modern Moorcroft pottery. The majority of lots on offer sold, to total around £3,800. Also in the Arts & Crafts section, a locally-consigned Ruskin pottery vase with crystalline glaze sold for a triple-estimate £920.
The Oriental section often contains stand-out pieces, and the same was true when a 19th century bowl, consigned by a Chinese vendor, made ten times pre-sale expectations at £6,500. From the same vendor, an ovoid ginger jar lacking cover also tripled predictions to sell at £1,100.
In the large and varied selection of collector’s items it was a tale of two frogs. A rock crystal example by Boucheron, 18ct gold and diamond-set, sold for £2,000 – a price just eclipsed by the £2,100 offered for a whimsical Victorian silver frog table lighter by celebrated novelty maker James Barclay Hennell. The latter had been consigned from a garage clearance in North Yorkshire.
Following the silver was a collection of chatelaines. These historic ‘tool kits’ for housekeepers and for ladies of leisure always contain some quirky items , and the offering of over 30 lots proved popular as all but two found new homes to total around £5,000.
A large Japanese okimono of Kwanyin proved the highlight of the ivory section , achieving a double-estimate £1,400. This was following by a number of ivory and other chess sets, the pick being an early set by popular maker Staunton which provided one of the surprises of the sale when it sold for £2,900. It attracted interest from Ireland and the USA.
A Georg Neumann microphone was one of the more unusual items in the sale. It surprised everyone when it far exceed estimate to sell for an amazing £3,500.
The picture section was perhaps more muted than other sale of recent times but a couple of results stood out. A view of Stratford upon Avon by Noel Leaver sold for £720, and a portrait by the Victorian artist Charles Eastlake, a former President of the Royal Academy, achieved £920.
Perhaps the strongest section of the sale was the clocks. A Georgian twin fusee bracket clock with white dial, consigned from the same garage as the frog, sold well above expectations at £1,300. The section was buoyed by a good consignment courtesy of a local deceased estate, a former engineer and clock enthusiast. Many had been purchased at auction in the 1980s and 1990s and were sold with receipts. The combination of market-fresh items and good provenance proved irresistible to buyers, as a series of clocks made four-figure sums. These included a walnut longcase signed Norris of London at £3,900, another signed ‘Joseph Windmills’ but with some alterations at £7,100, a good provincial marquetry longcase at £5,600, a Windmills bracket clock with barrel and fusee removed at £5,700, and another late 17th century bracket clock by Henry Jones of London at £6,100. Also notable was a 19th century Italian table clock, based on a German 16th century design, which was underbid by an Italian collector to £2,100. The 26-lot collection in total saw 22 sell and total over £40,000.
The sale closed with a small selection of furniture, the stars of which were an ivory-inlaid chest of drawers sold at a triple estimate £2,100,and a Georgian kettle stand from the North Yorkshire garage sold for £1,600. With other collections already consigned for the Autumn, the second half of 2015 looks like an exciting one for the Antiques department at Fellows.