Latest News Articles by Terence Ryle
Post rarity delivers a £24,000 result
28 October 2019Having stood at Guernsey airport from 1946-81, the island post box shown below came out of storage in 1988 for presentation to the late politician and lawyer Roger Perrot who died earlier this year.
Strong private buying helps to fuel high hammer total and selling rate in Nottingham
14 October 2019Nottingham auction house Mellors & Kirk (20% buyer’s premium) added to the cautiously feel-good mood created by some highly successful autumn sales in the provinces when strong private buying brought impressive results across the board.
Icons with Schellenberg provenance
07 October 2019Pitched at £200-300, this Russian diptych icon shown below triggered wide pre-sale Russian and East European interest ahead of Elstob & Elstob’s 20% buyer’s premium) sale at Bedale.
Marks makes vendor happy on a modest estimate
07 October 2019The catalogue description correctly read ‘Art Nouveau silver powder bowl by Gilbert Marks, hallmark London 1900, weight approx 8.79oz, 273.4gms, decorated with stylised thistles repousse’.
Great medals for a debut auction
07 October 2019A fine private collection amassed in the 1960s provided the base for the inaugural Russian Coins & Historical Medals sale held by Dix Noonan Webb (24% buyer’s premium).
Trophy is a knock-out buy
07 October 2019Punching well above its weight, a 9ct gold Lonsdale Championship boxing trophy presented to legendary Glaswegian champion Benny Lynch was the top draw at Fellows’ (23% buyer’s premium) sale in Birmingham.
Alan Peters record set in saleroom
07 October 2019Underlining the market move from antique furniture to 20th century craftsman design, a 1982-83 chest of drawers set a record for a work by Alan Peters at the Modern British Living sale at Mallams (22.5% buyer’s premium) in Cheltenham.
Chinese censer: from £50 to four figures
07 October 2019At the budget-price end of the Chinese boom – which tends to get overlooked – profits are there for the keen eyed, such as the vendor of this twin-handled censer shown here.
Carpet and chandeliers shine as elegant Shropshire hall boosts autumn auction
30 September 2019Boosted by the contents of a fine country home, the autumn sale at Cheffins (22.5% buyer’s premium) enjoyed moments of floor-to-ceiling success.
Fry's advertising sign sold for £5500 at Lindsay Burns auction
30 September 2019Just a little less famous than Fry’s 'Five Boys' image is the illustration by Tom Browne of a multi-class group outside a sweetshop with the line from 'Troilus and Cressida: One touch of Nature makes the whole World kin'.
Lonitz owls lead belter of a sale
30 September 2019Although the Hugo Lonitz factory produced a range of domestic tablewares and small collectables, it is best known for its naturalistic majolica groups, particularly animal and bird examples modelled in lifelike size and detail.
Chronometer takes four-times guide
30 September 2019Offered with an a/f catalogue caveat, this early 20th century marine chronometer, below, quadrupled expectations at Chichester saleroom Henry Adams (20% buyer’s premium).
Buyers vote for political mementos
30 September 2019Turbulent as politics are today, they have yet to reach the rumbustious heights of a notorious 1826 by-election in Northumberland, memories of which were revisited at Newcastle auction house Anderson & Garland (20% buyer’s premium).
Lloyd’s candlesticks are Suffolk cover stars
30 September 2019Pair of candlesticks light up auction with surprise result.
Egyptian head brings smiles at Hartleys
30 September 2019After the Hartleys (17.5% buyer’s premium) September 4 sale, auctioneer Andrew Hartley admitted: “Furniture did not perform as it was hoped from tiny chinks of daylight discernible in the last few months.”
Auction boost of ‘Butcher’ and King Billy
30 September 2019A rare contrast to the Jacobite glass which has served Edinburgh auction house Lyon & Turnbull (25% buyer’s premium) so well was a large mid-18th century goblet with a wheel engraved portrait of the victor of Culloden. It was inscribed 'His Royal Highness William Duke Of Cumberland'.
Ivory nutcrackers could become a museum piece
16 September 2019Entered by a vendor who hated them, a pair of 6in (15.5cm) long 19th century nutcrackers reflected in their way two different aspects of auctioneering today: how smaller country firms see their future and what will happen to antique ivory items when most of the trade in them is banned.
Buyer has no fear of the unknown as pocket globe leads Exeter auction
16 September 2019A pocket globe with some areas still a mystery leads a maritime auction at Exeter saleroom Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.
Marcks and spender – carriage clock attracts buyers at Hampshire sale
16 September 2019Pitched at £500-800, this grand sonnerie carriage clock came with little information for bidders at Jacobs & Hunt’s (22% buyer’s premium) sale in Liss other than plentiful illustrations and the name C Marcks & Co, Bombay and Poona engraved to the silvered dial.
Turin toy keeps on trucking at Runcorn auction
16 September 2019A model example of trans-European trucking, this diecast van advertising a Swiss company was made in Italy and sold to a German buyer at the Runcorn rooms of British Toy Auctions (18% buyer’s premium).