Auctioneers

Providing a major boost to Bonhams’ first sale in London with room bidding since the lockdown, a portrait of the writer EM Forster by Roger Fry (1866-1934) set an auction record both for the artist and any Bloomsbury Group picture.

Jewellery auction house Elmwood’s has opened a new office in London and hired two new staff as business begins to return to normal after the lockdown.

Sotheby’s held the first of this summer’s ‘super sales’ last week as it combined a series of three Modern and Contemporary art auctions into a marathon four-and-a-half hour live-streamed event.

A record price of £10,200 was paid last month for a pen and ink sketch by fell-walking legend Alfred Wainwright at 1818 Auctioneers of Milnthorpe, Cumbria.

Estimated at just £60-80, a rare Ericsson telephone sold for £10,500 (plus 17% buyer’s premium) at Wessex Auction Rooms in Chippenham.

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including Christie's merging its Impressionist and Modern Art and Contemporary Art teams.

This pair of early 19th century Neoclassical Sheffield plated wine coolers proved to be one of the more sought-after entries in the Doyle (25/20/12.5%) sale of silver furniture and decorative arts in New York.

Not to be confused with the modern reissues, the original Vulcain Cricket was marketed in 1947 as the world’s first wristwatch with an alarm.

Topping the Mid-Century Design sale held by Sworders (25% buyer’s premium) in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, was a trademark work by Peter Collingwood (1922-2008) – the British craftsman at the forefront of weaving for 50 years.

The German-born watercolourist and musician John Baptist Malchair (c.1730-1812) was a key figure in 18th century Oxford.

Presenting some 434 lots and with a total not far short of £1m, a recent sale held by Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) included a rich enough string of successes to outshine a few of the more highly valued lots left unsold.

The 252-lot Natural History and Taxidermy auction at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) on June 19 included this Victorian anthropomorphic diorama of card-playing, cigar-smoking red squirrels, c.1870-1900.

As might be expected, local scenes were an important feature of David Lay’s Cornish art sale on June 11. Among them was a view of Penzance’s Market Jew Street by Norman Garstin (1847-1926) that depicted a location only a 10-minute walk from the saleroom.

A selection of early Continental silver from the 16th and 17th centuries was a notable feature of the Lempertz (25% buyer’s premium) decorative arts auction in Cologne.

At the 19th century international exhibitions, the Viennese silversmith Hermann Ratzendorfer (1845-94) gained a reputation for his mixed-media works in the neo-Renaissance taste.

A highpoint of the Dreweatts (25% buyer’s premium) ‘lockdown’ sale of Asian art in Newbury was provided by this 19th century Chinese export silver gilt and enamelled box.

Though largely made up of books, the star turn in a US sale of 100 lots called ‘Churchill in Charge’ was a portrait by the photographer usually known simply as Karsh. The sale was inspired by the 80th anniversary of his assuming the office of Britain’s Prime Minister.

Massachusetts auction house Skinner will be offering over 200 pieces from the collection of George H Way in its sale of European Furniture and Decorative Arts to be held from July 20-28.

Sixteen upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.