Print Edition

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including the search for a missing saint painting from the National Trust's Chastleton House in Oxfordshire.

Former champion jockey Joe Mercer 1934-2021) was a keen buyer of racing memorabilia.

The two signed photo-portraits of writers reproduced here formed part of a November 17-December 1 sale held by Christie’s (15/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) that dispersed a single-owner collection of literary manuscripts billed as Exiles and Idealists.

On Friday, March 4, Michael Bloomstein of Brighton was paying the following for bulk scrap against a gold fix of: $1957.67 / €1769.69 / £1467.41

With the discovery of the intact tomb of Tutankhamun in 1923, an Egyptian revival swept through the decorative arts. Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels were among the first to design jewels that mixed Egyptian motifs with the geometry and bold colours of the Art Deco era. But other French, British and US ateliers soon followed.

Emerging artists and those out of the limelight become popular as buyers look for new names

Some people like to call their antiques businesses by names that are personal to them and which have a strong family connection, such as Noble Salvages in Swadlincote and Peggy McCools in Warrington.

Although Roamer fell victim to the ‘quartz crisis’ – the introduction of quartz watches in the 1970s and early 1980s that largely replaced mechanical watches – in the 1950s-60s the firm enjoyed a good reputation as the maker of good-quality, affordable automatic mechanical watches.

The Omega Seamaster 300, launched in 1957 simultaneously with the Railmaster and the Speedmaster, appears in numerous variations.

This early medieval gold cross was discovered by a metal detectorist in a field in Sutton St Edmund, Lincolnshire, in April 2019. After two years, going through the Treasure process, the cross was returned to the finder, who is selling it at Dix Noonan Webb on March 15.

The Select Jewellery & Watches sale at Lyon & Turnbull (25/20% buyer’s premium) on March 30 includes a number of pieces by the coterie of artist-craftsmen who led a revival of British jewellery making in the 1960s-70s. Like so much of post-war decorative arts, they have roared back into fashion.

Among the highlights at this month’s Connect Art Fair is an untitled c.1968/71 gouache on paper by British-Guyanese artist Aubrey Williams, offered for £4500 by Middlemarch Art.

Described by one visitor as “a cocktail of the senses when you step inside,” the Brothership Studio in Hertford offers the work of seven artists plus guests across two studios and galleries in the town.

The jewellery department at Woolley & Wallis has built up something of a reputation for selling cameos and intaglios.

Ecclesiastical commissions are integral to the Mouseman story – it was the friendship between Father Paul Neville and Robert Thompson that led to the work at Ampleforth College – but in commercial terms these can be relatively difficult pieces.

Among the most traditional of antiques, the William and Mary oyster veneered walnut chest of drawers remains a welcome visitor to the saleroom.

I must take exception to the letter from Pete Matthews (ATG No 2532) in which he tells the trade to stop moaning about the Ivory Act.

ATG’s pick of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com, featuring both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

A sale of royal memorabilia at Colchester saleroom Reeman Dansie (20% buyer’s premium) on February 15 included items from the estate of Miss Beryl Poignand (1887-1965), governess and confidante to HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.

This Regina disc and double comb-operated upright musical box is expected to be one of the highlights when Woody Auction in Kansas offers the collection of David and Marlene Howard from Ohio on March 19.