Auctions

The models used in 17th century ceramics were typically derived from contemporary metalwork – and occasionally vice versa.

This set of English painted sycamore trenchers were a wedding gift to Roger Simpson and his bride Mary in 1625 from their cousin. Each plate has an inscription that includes either the bride’s or groom’s name alongside verses about love, sex and marriage.

The Vogels bought 17th and early 18th century silver from How of Edinburgh, SJ Phillips in London and Shrubsole in New York.

Out-sold by the 100-times estimate £22,000 Japanese vase featured on last week’s News pages (ATG No 2380), this gold and silver-gilt chalice, right, offered at Lytham St Annes auction house Gerrards (18% buyer’s premium) on February 7 was a more predictable five-figure star.

An original drawing by Henry Moore (1898-1986) – which the artist labelled as a lithograph – was among the top-sellers of European art at Skinner (23/20/12% buyer’s premium) in Boston.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period February 14-20 2019. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Heritage begins mammoth dispersal of Otto Penzler’s holdings of detective fiction.

Pictured here are three pieces from the Pelham Olive collection sold by Bonhams on January 31. Two are early English delft and are prize examples because they are inscribed and dated. The third is an example of Staffordshire slipware.

A very different residence to Harold Ward’s Manthorpe House (see Mellors & Kirk story in Auction Reports this edition) supplied the very different contents to the 600-lot single-owner collection, white-glove sale held at Bellmans’ (22% buyer’s premium) Billingshurst saleroom on February 9.

The bullish Modern British art market fuelled the performance of three market-fresh paintings by George Hammond Steel (1900-60) which appeared at an Essex auction.

Catalogued as the most valuable Silver Age comic book by far, a copy of Issue No 15 of Amazing Fantasy, the 1962 comic that saw the first appearance of Spider-Man, sold for £14,500 in a January 25 sale held by Excalibur Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) of Amersham.

A lengthy provenance was key to the success of a large watercolour by the 19th century artist David Cox (1783-1859).