Clocks, Watches & Jewellery

Seven phone bidders competed for this 15th century gold heart-shaped brooch, a medieval gift of love from the time of the Wars of the Roses, at Hansons in Derbyshire.

A horological story rarely makes the national news, but the announcement that Big Ben is falling silent until 2021 as major conservation work begins rang loud and clear in headlines.

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

Thieves in Chipping Campden have struck at the core of the Court Barn Museum’s collection of Arts & Crafts silver and jewellery.

Possibly made for a member of the French monarchy, this post-medieval gold ring combines the heraldic fleur-de-lis motif with blue kite-shaped sapphires.

Charlotte Roper – “strictly a champagne girl” – started Plaza Jewellery in the mid 1980s. She specialises in French and European jewellery with a particular focus on pieces from the 1940s-‘60s. Her upcoming fairs include the Cotswolds Decorative Fair.

In our continuing series looking through the keyhole of ‘bricks and mortar’ shops, ATG talks to Mark Coxhead. He works at Gutlin Clocks, a 22-year-old father and son family business specialising in buying, selling and repairing antique clocks.

What is selling well in the clocks and watches world? Dealer Warren Wilkinson, who has been collecting and repairing clocks and watches for 40 years and who is a regular standholder at Love Fairs events, is a good man to answer that very question.

Paul Kembery of Kembery Antique Clocks in the West Country is a regular exhibitor at Antiques for Everyone and will stand at the upcoming edition.

For previous generations of artist jewellers, from René Lalique to Andrew Grima, retail sales and private commissions were everything. Typically it was only much later in the collecting lifecycle, after a period of posthumous reassessment and rediscovery, that their work appeared at auction with any great regularity.

Ahead of the autumn sale of a star lot, Phillips' watch expert Aurel Bacs tells ATG why the time is right for the firm to expand its US watch business

Dendritic agate – a pale chalcedony with treelike inclusions caused by traces of iron or manganese – is a relatively lowly stone but was a favourite of Russian jewellers in particular. Carl Fabergé used it in many pieces in a country where it is considered a stone of longevity, good health and prosperity.

A selection of stand-out jewellery lots from regional auctions.

The collection of Tiffany jewels offered by Christie’s New York (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on June 20 was the finest at auction in recent memory.