Auctions

Two Charles Rennie Mackintosh chairs made for Glasgow’s Argyle Street Tea Rooms starred at Lyon & Turnbull’s Decorative Arts sale in Edinburgh last week.

The white-glove sale of the Shannon collection of jewellery at Woolley & Wallis was topped at £22,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) by a gold bracelet by Omar Ramsden.

Harold Hardman’s journey from amateur footballer and solicitor to chairman of Manchester United in the era of the Busby Babes is a fascinating story in itself. But a medal coming up for auction in Oxford adds even more appeal.

A German silver cigarette case, sold for £4600 at C&T Auctioneers (20% buyer’s premium) in Tunbridge Wells on October 24, was engraved with a detailed scene from the Siege of Mafeking – the famous Boer War defence of a small town commanded by Robert Baden-Powell.

The very first lot offered as part of a Harry Houdini collection in an October 20 sale held by US magic specialist Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) was a 50 cent, 1898 copy of Magic Made Easy…

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period October 25-31, 2018. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

“The chances of finding one that had been bought in a £90 box lot was probably one in a million; the chances of finding two more on the same day are incalculable.” Scientific instruments expert Hugo Marsh was talking about specialist camera lenses he was shown in September, first by a south-coast vendor, then by a West Country enthusiast, which sold at Special Auction Services (17.5% buyer’s premium) at Newbury on October 23.

The last-minute discovery of a 1776 first edition of Adam Smith’s '…Wealth of Nations' was a magical, unforgettable moment for a Derbyshire saleroom’s book specialist.

A pottery has stood in the Welsh village of Ewenny for five centuries but the collecting market tends to focus on those pieces produced under the influence of the Arts & Crafts movement in the late 19th century.

Pictures formed a prominent part of Lyon & Turnbull’s (25/20% buyer’s premium) Kirkton House sale earlier this month as the contents of the Regency manse near Montrose were dispersed from the auction house’s Edinburgh saleroom.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from November 6-17, 2018.