McTear's

Founded in Glasgow in 1842, McTear’s hold a wide range of specialist sales including Asian works of art, pictures, jewellery, clocks, watches, coins, silver, ceramics and glass, wine and whisky and Scottish Modern and Contemporary art.

Their current owner, auctioneer and managing director is Brian Clements who joined the company in 1987.


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Single-owner collection of biscuit tins gets novelty treatment at McTear’s

16 September 2024

Barrie Lewis, a Midlands wholesaler of cakes, biscuits and confectionery, began collecting old biscuit tins after he received one as a birthday gift in the early 1980s.

Archibald Knox Cymric clock

Opportunity Knox: Previously unknown design for Liberty & Co clock emerges in Glasgow auction

19 August 2024

An apparently unique silver and enamel clock designed by Manxman Archibald Knox (1864-1933) for London retailer Liberty & Co surfaced for sale in Scotland last week.

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Barrie Lewis biscuit tins up for grabs in Glasgow

19 August 2024

On August 28, Glasgow auction house McTear’s is conducting a single-owner, single-subject sale titled The Art of the Biscuit Tin: The Lewis Collection.

2654 AR Mctear's Glasses

Eye Eye: Rare c.1750 shagreen 'banjo' spectacle case and glasses surprise at auction

23 July 2024

Catalogued simply as 'a cased pair of spectacles, 19th century, the case in shagreen, along with three magnifying glasses', this understated lot estimated at £30-50 fell between a portrait miniature of Napoleon and a set of 1950s headlights.

Beswick Belted Galloway

Cows can fly: Beswick lot bid to a bullish 30 times estimate in Glasgow

12 July 2024

Arthur Gredington, who was appointed chief modeller at the Beswick factory in 1939, found inspiration across the animal kingdom from cats and kittens to butterflies and leaping fish.

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Fixture list lined up two sports auctions in Glasgow

20 May 2024

News that Celtic and Rangers no longer automatically qualify for the Champions League next season put a bit of a dampener on Scottish football.

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Making a match – football shirts worn in action sought by collectors

15 January 2024

The growth in the market for vintage football tops connected to popular players continues apace

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Hefty Houston work lochs in a commission bid

16 October 2023

The highest price at auction for Scottish painter George Houston (1869-1947) in almost six years came at a recent McTear’s (24% buyer’s premium) sale.

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Neil Gow fiddles on portrayed by 'Raeburn and studio'

18 September 2023

Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823) painted several versions of his portrait of Neil Gow, the most famous 18th century Scottish fiddler, for a number of patrons.

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Make an auld acquaintance: Scottish artists in London club together

21 August 2023

This handwritten volume bound in maroon calf boards with brass clasp is titled inside The Minute Book of The Auld Lang Syne Sketching Club.

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Liner launcher mallet exempted from ivory trade ban

14 August 2023

The ivory-made launching mallet and silver casket from the ill-fated RMS Empress of Ireland came for sale at McTear’s (24% buyer’s premium) in Glasgow.

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18th century glass: politics that is mixed with pleasure

17 April 2023

The ideas of ‘liberty’ as a cause and a concept were not confined to the coffee shops of Boston and Philadelphia.

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Optical expertise all round

20 February 2023

The famous firm of Negretti & Zambra was formed in London in 1850 by the Italian-born Henry Negretti and Joseph Warren Zambra

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Scottish football shirt bought by a Texas Ranger

19 December 2022

A happy football fan in Texas – quite possibly with Caledonian roots – is now the proud owner of the first jersey to come to auction from Rangers’ 1972 European Cup Winners’ Cup triumph over Dynamo Moscow.

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John Maclauchlan Milne: Stunned by Cézanne’s work

03 October 2022

The sale of Scottish pictures at McTear’s on October 12 includes this oil painted by John Maclauchlan Milne (1885-1957) while living in Paris in 1922.

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Book recalls evolution of a natural selection theory

05 September 2022

Sold online to a collector in France in a sale held by McTear’s (24% buyer’s premium) of Glasgow was a scarce copy in original boards of 'On Naval Timber and Arboriculture'.

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‘Lisbon Lions’ link makes the difference to result

22 August 2022

In its catalogue notes for the July 22 Scottish Greats: Football, Golf, Fishing and more sale, McTear’s (24% buyer’s premium) was careful to say regarding a football shirt on offer that it could give no guarantee it was exactly as billed.

WEB Entertainment Bowie 1

Six pieces of music memorabilia sold at auction including David Bowie's police mugshot

29 July 2022

A selection of standout lots sold recently – also featuring Del Boy's discovery of Peckham Spring Water

Ashley Gallant

Appointments at BADA, Bishop & Miller and Elstob & Elstob – a round up across the art and antiques sector

12 July 2022

Our latest news on hires includes new faces at auction houses and a dealer association.

John Bellany picture

Pick of the week: The £80,000 picture before Bellany went off the railings

13 June 2022

Works by John Bellany (1942-2013) abound at auction, with at least 2000 pictures sold in the last 10 years.

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