Auctioneers

KNUTSFORD, Cheshire auctioneers Frank Marshall sold this remarkable pair of Chelsea Blue Triangle period sauceboats c.1745-49 for a house record £41,000 on September 8.

BRINGING bidding from different parts of the world to Mallams latest sale in Oxford, this Chinese jade censer went spectacularly over its £2000-3000 estimate on August 26.

According to legend, during the English Civil War, a Royalist descendant of Sir Christopher Harris (c.1553-1625) of Radford, Devon, hid the family silver in a cave before fleeing, fearing for his life.

THIS German clockwork tinplate limousine made a surprise £38,000 at Tennants of Leyburn at their latest toy sale.

IN January next year, Christie’s are planning to open a high-tech storage facility in New York.

THIS rare Meissen figure group modelled by J.J. Kandler, titled The Stormy Lovers sold for £26,000 at Paul Beighton's latest sale.

THIS Russian icon depicting St George slaying the dragon generated a lively competition when offered on the third day of Bellmans' sale in Wisborough Green, West Sussex.

A SUBSTANTIAL, and previously unpublished, collection of letters written by various members of the Bloomsbury Group to Helen Anrep (1885-1965) is to be sold by the East Sussex auctioneers Gorringes in Lewes on September 3, along with a collection of artworks by members of the group consigned from the same estate.

THIS portable regulator signed Thwaites and Reed, London sold for £16,500 (plus 19.5 per cent buyer's premium) at Lawrences of Crewkerne, Somerset on July 10.

The partnership between Toronto auctioneers Ritchies and Sotheby’s has been dissolved after payment deadlines were missed following a joint sale of Canadian art on May 25.

KENDAL Auction Rooms, who have operated in Cumbria since 1818, are to rebrand as Eighteen Eighteen Auctioneers.

FOR an item almost destined for a landfill site, this delapidated red leather chesterfield, found in the outhouse of a Northamptonshire rectory, wouldn’t be the first thing you would expect to generate international bidding.

THE so-called Frog Service made by Wedgwood for Catherine the Great was one of the most prestigious creations by the Staffordshire entrepreneur and one that helped forge his international reputation.

Scrimshaw, or carved bone and ivory, is very collectable, but the signature and scenes on this 7in (18cm) long whale’s tooth put it in a special league.

Christie’s have announced a premium-inclusive £1.2bn ($1.8bn) in sales for the first six months of 2009, down 35 per cent on the same period last year, when results were £1.8bn ($3.5bn).

Second quarter results for Sotheby’s in 2009 show operating revenues down almost half to $167.3m on the first three months of the year thanks largely to the decline in auction totals.

Bloomsbury Auctions are to increase their buyer’s premium from 20 to 22 per cent.

Dreweatts have stepped up their competition for London business by appointing James James-Crook as Director of Business Development, with immediate effect.

THREE weeks after cheque-bouncing dealer Tony Nowaosad vowed to settle his debt at Durrants Auction Rooms, he has still not done so, say the auctioneers.

This 113/4in (29cm) high slate sculpture titled Maquette for Large Sculpture: Four-Square (Four-Circle) was the first that Penzance auctioneer David Lay had offered for sale.