Auctions

Networking is far more than a good chinwag. As Baldwin’s of St James’s medal specialist Mark Smith explains, it can also be good business.

In what has been a buoyant first quarter for clocks of quality, the 109 examples at Chiswick Auctions’ (22% buyer’s premium) March 21 sale of horology and European works of art made a significant contribution to the £225,000 taken by the 275 lots on offer.

What Aylsham auction house Keys (20% buyer’s premium) considered one of the largest private collections of Lowestoft ever to come to market was a near sell-out on March 21.

Held several times a year, the all-Cymru affair has been a regular fixture of Rogers Jones’ calendar for 16 years, offering primarily Welsh art and pottery.

Literary anniversaries are a good story to tell to potential sellers but do they bring greater interest and greater prices?

A fine collection of Meiji and 19th century Chinese ivory works of art sold at Hansons (17.5% buyer’s premium) offered a window onto a turbulent market.

It wasn’t so much a Road to Damascus moment for Edward Crichton but more the road back to Bury St Edmunds, a car journey that provided the Lacy Scott & Knight auctioneer with much-needed think time.

Among a handful of pieces of Gallé French art glass in a sale of decorative arts and design to be held by Tessier Sarrou & Associés at Drouot on May 4 is this example of the designer’s skills in the medium.

A selection of stand-out results achieved at auctions in the UK and abroad.

Silver was among the success stories of the wide-ranging March 30-April 1 sale at Hansons, in particular a 1705 Britannia standard chocolate pot.

One of the more intriguing clocks to come in the market this spring was this early 18th century bracket clock signed to the backplate Cha [rles] Goode, London offered at Duke’s (22% buyer’s premium) on April 12.

A painting by British landscape artist Harry Epworth Allen (1894-1958) drew a flurry of bids at Gardiner Houlgate (20% buyer’s premium) in Corsham near Bath on March 29-31.

A rare English humpback carriage clock is coming up for sale at Dr Crott in Frankfurt on May 6. The 6in (16cm) high calendar timepiece with phases of the moon and an English lever escapement was manufactured in the 1890s by Jump of London.

A French School painting, catalogued as early 18th century, drew strong bidding at Stride & Son’s (20% buyer’s premium inc VAT) sale in Chichester on March 31.

News in brief from around the auction houses...

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period April 20-26, 2017. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

This flock of five sheep, Nouveaux Moutons, by the popular French designer François-Xavier Lalanne, will feature in Palm Beach Modern Auction’s two-session sale of around 500 lots on May 6 in Palm Beach.

One of the highlights of Mossgreen’s sale of Decorative Arts to be held in Armadale, Melbourne, on May 8-9 is this 11in (26.5cm) diameter 17th century terrestrial table globe with its original mahogany cradle.

A selection of forthcoming UK and international auction highlights.

A Russian ceramic homage to Catherine the Great is among the highlights at Schloss Ahlden’s sale on May 6-7 in Ahlden, Lower Saxony. The impressive 22in (55cm) high bronze-mounted porcelain ensemble in the form of a temple dates to the 1780s or ’90s and is estimated at €48,000. It was produced by the Gardner factory in Moscow, which was founded in 1765.