Auctioneers

Just three lots unsold in Edinburgh auction as private and international bidders dominate

The contents of a country house in Exmouth turned up not one but two large watercolours by Archibald Thorburn (1860-1935), the pre-eminent British painter of ornithological subjects.

Eighteenth century seat furniture took the top honours in Artcurial’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) two-day sale of furniture and works of art in Paris.

One of the specialist golfing sales held by PBA Galleries (20% buyer’s premium) of San Francisco included the work of a Scottish-born designer of golf courses who is said to have laid out some 400 of them.

Early work by Spanish-born painter was identified by Old Master experts Cabinet Turquin

An unexpectedly high price was paid in a sale of Old Master paintings and drawings held this summer by auction house Aguttes (23/25% buyer’s premium plus VAT) in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

A legend of golf is represented at Shropshire saleroom Mullock’s Golfing Memorabilia and Antique & Modern Fishing Tackle auction on August 13-14.

With their regular photographer isolated in Somerset, it was proprietor Malcolm Phillips’ partner, Sally, who used her iPhone to produce all the catalogue images for a Comic Book Auctions (19% buyer’s premium) timed sale on thesaleroom.com.

Talk about 30 years of hurt. What about 100 years?

If you remember the American Football mania that first hit the UK in the mid-1980s when coverage started on Channel 4, then you will certainly recall ‘The Refrigerator’.

Good art at a great price in regional sales

An ensemble of jewellery by René Lalique was on offer in a Decorative Arts sale held by Tessier & Sarrou (28% buyer’s premium) at Drouot. All the pieces were signed examples of his distinctive Art Nouveau style and inventive use of non-precious materials.

The simple pair of leather football boots on offer at East Bristol Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium) this summer was not as flash as today’s examples in all colours and emblazoned with all kinds of branding and personalised messages.

At the age of 36 most footballers have either hung their boots up or are about to. By that stage Ronnie Simpson had experienced a decent enough career: including two FA Cup wins with Newcastle.

Keeping score in the earliest days of the Football League was not as easy as checking the internet.

Although a smaller affair than the much better-known Isle of Wight festival of the same year, the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music, held on June 27-28, 1970, at the Shepton Mallet showground, boasted perhaps the greatest UK music festival line-up of all time.

The FA Cup proved a happy hunting ground for Norman Whiteside in his playing days and at auction many years later the competition was still proving to be a big winner for him.

As with so many other sales schedules for the summer, Graham Budd’s June two-day auction had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown. However, he has just announced that he will be holding his next on November 9-10 as a live ‘broadcast’ auction (all forms of bidding except for in the room, viewing by timed appointment at the firm’s Enfield premises).