Clocks, Watches & Jewellery

Gold wedding rings belonging to poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes have been bought by London jeweller Wartski.

The Hôtel des Ventes de Monte Carlo (25/23/20% buyer’s premium) held a sale series this summer that featured auctions devoted to jewellery, watches and accessories, antiquities and modern art.

Simon MacLachlan owns and runs Piccadilly Vaults, a relative newcomer to the fine jewellery scene based in London’s Piccadilly Arcade. Founded in 2017, it is named after the wall of working bank vaults installed in the basement.

On a single day in 1919 the Imperial German Navy achieved the impressive feat of sinking 52 vessels. Unfortunately, they were its own ships.

Two very different timekeepers came up for sale at Kinsky (25% buyer’s premium) in Vienna on July 6-8.

Humphrey Butler has announced the rediscovery of a bracelet from the famed suite of sapphire and diamond jewels made for a young Queen Victoria.

A quintessential example of avant-garde Art Deco jewellery by a French designer who was renowned for such modernist pieces was the toast of Christie’s (25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) online Jewellery sale in Paris which closed on July 7.

While prices and interest have been declining in desk sets since computer laptops rendered them largely redundant, there are exceptions.

Highlights from the first tranche of the clock collection of Isle of Man entrepreneur and horologist Dr John C Taylor (b.1936) were offered for sale by dealership Carter Marsh in London last week.

This liver bird brooch, hallmarked for 1943, appears to have been commissioned as a bespoke order for Margaret Hall, the daughter of a lord mayor of Liverpool who, from 1935-6, was herself the lady mayoress of the city.

Kashmir sapphires have acquired a near-legendary status, due to their lustrous cornflower colour, soft velvety texture and extreme rarity.

The star of a recent Chiswick Auctions’ (25/12% buyer’s premium) Jewellery auction was an Art Deco diamond and rock crystal Cartier brooch, c.1925.

The sale in 1872 of a silver pocket watch manufactured by Patek Philippe in Geneva to the jeweller and retailer Gondolo & Labouriau in Rio de Janeiro marked the beginning of a highly successful and mutually profitable business partnership that lasted until 1927.

The appeal of this bracelet hung with eight enamel charms depicting Snow White and Seven Dwarfs lies in its Disney subject matter and its association with Cartier.

These two fine examples of archaeological revival gold jewellery come for sale in the regions in July.

An episode of BBC Antiques Roadshow filmed at Windermere and broadcast in February included this 18ct gold and pearl necklace by HG Murphy.

The stopwatch used by English referee Jack Taylor in the 1974 World Cup final sold for a within-estimate £3300 at Fellows (23/15% buyer’s premium) in Birmingham.