Dear Friends,
Just as I was about to publish this post I have taken in 9 items of fabulous ‘Imperial’ Chinese kingfisher jewellery looted from the Imperial City by the grandfather of the vendor who was an officer in the 17th Bengal Lancers and present on the 15th-16th August 1900 at the fall of the City. He bought them from his servant who had found them near the ‘Coal Hill’ in Pekin .
Three things please before I start. One is to tell you that our manager, William marries the wonderful Sophie on Easter Saturday. Please offer him any advise you feel he needs! Two is that I need small jam jars with lids for a local lady who makes jam she sells for Macmillan Nurses – not coffee jars though. If you can help please drop them into the saleroom (she’s raised £7000 so far!) The last thing is to remind you that we use UKAuctioneers for live bidding and we need more of you to register with this growing company. They now represent 100 auction rooms and only cost £3.95 to register or 3% of any purchase price, whichever you choose. UKAuctioneers.com
I’m pleased to report that the important 1560 Geneva Bible in the last sale sold to an American client, bidding on line, for £10,400 including premium.
One swallow might not make a summer but one clearance can make a sale, especially when it brings us a Tudric pewter clock designed by Archibald Knox with an enamelled dial and organic case of winter trees.
Every auction comprises many vendors and all their lots are welcome. But once in a while you get the call that raises the spirits. This call was in Pinner and a wonderful home of inherited goods that current children have no interest in. I love those sort of children! Nothing was worth a fortune but everything was charming, interesting and in good condition including Worcester and Sevres porcelain, old ivory, silver, a Black Forest bear biscuit pot, clocks, tortoiseshell and a quilted bed cover that was in the Great Exhibition along with paintings by Alfred Armitage, a family member, with his fabulous mahogany brass bound artist’s box. ‘It’s all got to go Mr Bainbridge’. I love those words.
This sale is on Thursday 17th March at 11am vith viewing from 1-7 pm on the 16th and from 9.30am on sale day. Our catalogue is on our website from Sunday the 13th.
Similarly, a house in Crouch End was the home of a busy collector with every surface covered including over 100 Goebel figures and a home in Moor Park revealed an old train set, huge hifi speakers, a model Alpine house in its own box dated 1807 and a Georgian wing back arm chair.
PICTURES – about 100 lots – completely fill the walls and include works by or attributed to Jan Beekhout, Peter Dunn, Sydney Arrobus, Frank Belcher, F.G. Waldmueller, Susan Demerest, André Dunoyer de Segonzac, W.E. Willard, A. Huerst Gregory, Alfred Armitage, W. Dendy Sadler, H.A. Freeth, Ralph Shaw, A. Hartog, L. Burleigh Bruhl, Alexander Molyneux Stannard, Bob Nicolson, R. Herring, J. Bovier, A. de Kriel, Howard G. Stormont, John Pedder, George Fripp, R.A. Wymer, C. L’Anson, N.H. Christians, Josef Neuberg, Lewis Creighton, etc.
SILVER & PLATE is well represented and includes a cased set of silver and mother of pearl fruit knives, bowls, cutlery etc and JEWELLERY includes the usual display of wonderful precious metals and stones.
The SHELVES are full and we have resorted to extra tables to cope with the amount of PORCELAIN, POTTERY & GLASS including Goebel figures, dinner services including gold ‘Florentine’ W4219 by Wedgwood, including 2 tureens, coffee and tea set, a fabulous collection of 32 cricketing plates, 16 by Coalport and 9 by Royal Grafton, all commemorating county cricket, including the History of the Ashes by Royal Doulton, plate 844/7500, a model cricketer from the Leonardo collection, 2 Staffordshire style cricketing figures, Royal Doulton’s character jug of W.G. Grace, D7032 modelled by Stanley James Taylor 1995, along with commemorative wine cups and a glass tankard, an extensive collection of bells, some in miniature, mainly glass and porcelain, one by Belleek, a tea service by Royal Albert, ‘Old Country Roses’, a Paragon ‘Pandora’ pattern tea service, good glass including coloured and other decanters, coloured and modern glass vases and bowls, scent bottles, table wares in sets and part sets, a second set of porcelain bells with its own display shelves, including a Belleek 3rd edition Christmas bell, model birds including a Staffordshire wren by J.T. Jones, a Beswick chaffinch and robin, and a Goebels blue tit, 1960s Denby dinner wares in brown with stylised flower decoration, an early 20th century Mintons dinner and part tea service, 7 unusual tall cylindrical coffee cups by Schmid-50 Porcelain, a glass model of Santa Maria in a glass bottle, a charming four-storey doll’s house, an extensive collection of Taiwanese wooden doll’s house furniture, with fine detail, miniature doll’s house china, a group of stylish early 20th century pottery including a tall red vase with chinoiserie decoration by Shelley, colourful pieces by Arthur Wood, Greys, Susie Cooper, Crown Devon, and Sylvac, Aynsley flower pots, vase and cover, an extensive Noritake dinner and tea service, ‘Boliski’ pattern, a collection of 23 Bossons, figures by Royal Doulton including ‘Autumn Breezes’, HN 1939, and ‘Belle o’the Ball’, HN 1997 (1946?), Coalport, Lladro, Midwinter tea wares, Wedgwood Corn Poppy dinner and tea wares, Susie Cooper design, collectable teapots, Wedgwood Jasperware, 7 Franklin porcelain large plates, Songbirds of the World, Doulton character jugs, an owl collection, a Shelley red polka dot coffee set, Whitefriars drunken bricklayer vase and a TV vase, both in green, a large Poole vase, a selection of Worcester porcelain including a pair of figures of musicians, 13 ins., good cabinet cups and saucers by Sevres, a pair of antique enamelled candlesticks, 9 ins., sadly with damage, a Newlyn copper jug worked with penguins, a Crown Devon cylindrical jug by Lucie Rie, oriental ceramics including a very large Satsuma vase (and its smashed pair), a collection of glass paperweights, Beswick Beatrix Potter figures, charming Spode coffee cans in silver holders, a Grimwades 1911 George V and Queen Mary marriage cup.
COLLECTABLES include old ivory chess sets, a large patchwork quilt combining pretty brightly coloured fabrics in the traditional hexagon design, exhibited at the Great Exhibition, Crystal Palace, 1851, worked by the Misses Bird of Upton-on-Severn, old decorative parasols, old corkscrews, good early ivory carved figures, an old train set, huge hifi speakers, a model Alpine house in its own box dated 1807, an early 5 section inro worked with a dragon, along with its netsuke and ojime modelled as a fat beaver, a small ivory box, the lid worked with a carved scene, ‘Toujours la même’, in gilt-metal mount, an ivory patch box , miniature ivory box containing mother of pearl discs, the lid painted with a trompe l’oeil of playing cards, tortoiseshell trowel bookmark, a carved elephant carrying musicians, a carved ivory Samurai on horseback , a tortoiseshell tea caddy, a wonderful 19th century French bronze casket worked with hunting scenes, a boar, deer and dogs, the lid mounted with a hound, stamped T&E Paris, a 19th century Black Forest carved bear with hinged head, cold-painted bronze birds, old fountain pens, a large 18th century Chinese porcelain mug with ribbon handle, a large early 20th century Derby vase, Victorian gilt-metal and porcelain clocks, one with cherub surmount, another with a pair of candelabra, a Victorian skeleton clock under a glass dome, good boxes including an exceptional sadeli work example with original sewing paraphernalia, fitted with original mirror, the base drawer fitted for writing, on claw feet, an exceptional 19th century Continental walnut marquetry jewel box, a Victorian letter box, writing slopes, artists’ boxes including the 19th century mahogany artist’s box, the property of Alfred Armitage, a death notice saying “the well-known Yorkshire artist who was born at Clayton, Bradford, who died Lampton Road, Heston, Middx. Mr Armitage was for many years in the employ of Messrs Raphael Tuck & Sons”, 1931, complete with watercolours, original mixing bowls, ink pot, etc., and including a portrait photograph, a fine Victorian musical box playing 8 airs with 3 visible bells, the walnut case with floral inlay, in working order, a bariograph, ornate brass table lamps, old metalware, including Turkish coffee pots, worked trays, cow bells, bayonets, Havana cigars, an old telephone, model ship and much more.
COSTUME and VINTAGE include good furs, Savile Row suits and a wonderful large 19th century Paisley shawl.
FURNITURE includes a good 1970s rosewood sideboard and dining table, an unusual set of 8 reproduction Regency style mahogany dining chairs carved with swan heads, a 19th century rosewood games table on quatrefoil base, a set of Victorian mirrored bijouterie shelves, an early examination couch, the base with drawers, modern plate glass display shelves and tables, an Edwardian inlaid display cabinet with leaded glass doors, a Victorian oak snooker-cum-dining table, leather settees, an electric adjustable chair, as new, a wind-up gramophone, two 19th century longcase clocks, a 19th century mahogany chest on chest with slide, a large banjo shaped barometer with ivory knop and urn finial, a 19th century mahogany boot rack, an ebonised pier cabinet, an impressive carved oak settle, an Edwardian display cabinet on square tapering legs, a Continental lady’s bureau, a Georgian wing back arm chair, a Victorian metal stick stand, pedestal tables, coffers, chests of drawers, chair sets, and a modern Lloyd Loom style conservatory suite, etc.
GENERAL EFFECTS include 4 or 5 lawn mowers one for the bowling green with kick start, a Bosch washing machine and other white goods, garden pots, two electric single beds, patio sets, a modern bicycle, tools, old suitcases, hifi, lots of TV’s…….it’s endless.
