Metalware
This sector comprises artefacts made from both base and precious metals. Many antique items were originally used for domestic purposes but are now collected on account of their craftsmanship, decorative quality and social interest.
Items can range from include pewter jugs, tin pots, brass bells, copper weathervanes and cast iron benches.
While this area offers plenty of affordable material, rare historical survivors can command high prices.
![img_26-1.jpg](/media/82725/img_26-1.jpg?rxy=0.487758945386064,0.22072936660268713&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133044312700000000)
Delft and metal stand out in antiques dealer duo's collection
08 August 2022Both categories are particularly notable as Mark and Marjorie Allen lots sell in Pennsylvania
![Silver tankard](/media/81753/img_10-1.jpg?rxy=0.60420315236427324,0.38985736925515058&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133014114780000000)
Pick of the week: High demand for rare Hull silver
04 July 2022Abraham Barachin became the last silversmith to use the Hull town mark of three ducal coronets.
![img_20-3.jpg](/media/80606/img_20-3.jpg?rxy=0.398576512455516,0.69791666666666663&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132983845610000000)
‘Victoria’s gift’ to faithful retainer
30 May 2022By repute this 15oz silver chamber stick and snuffer with glass hurricane shade was a gift from Queen Victoria to her personal attendant and favourite John Brown (1826-83).
![img_40-1.jpg](/media/78115/img_40-1.jpg?rxy=0.38917089678510997,0.12772133526850507&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132923251940000000)
Cataloguing the best in London and beyond
21 March 2022A round-up of current catalogues from folk-art at the rescheduled Winter Show to the Mellor-Cobham collection of English porcelain at Albert Amor
![Brass and enamel garter stall plaques](/media/77660/img_8-1.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132911242020000000)
Pick of the week: Heraldic plaques found in a wardrobe take £10,000 bid
07 March 2022Found in a wardrobe during the clearance of a deceased estate in Spalding, ‘a group of four early 19th century French heraldic plaques’ sold way over hopes at Stamford Auction Rooms in Lincolnshire on February 26.
![img_49-5.jpg](/media/76803/img_49-5.jpg?rxy=0.53009708737864081,0.34388185654008441&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132893111280000000)
Tsar's gift to Philadelphia doctor to be sold at Freeman’s
14 February 2022This cloisonné and plique à jour enamel silver presentation tankard will be one of the highlights of the Gilded Age auction at Freeman’s in Philadelphia on February 24.
![Pillar box](/media/76037/post-box-1.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132875926440000000)
Post box alert as thieves strike in Suffolk and Norfolk
26 January 2022Royal Mail is on alert after a number of post boxes were stolen in Suffolk and Norfolk in recent weeks with a fear they are being sold online.
![img_12-1.jpg](/media/74833/img_12-1.jpg?rxy=0.51910828025477707,0.260752688172043&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132838696020000000)
Plentiful plaquettes dispersed in single-owner sale
13 December 2021London auction offers fascinating bronzes from a little-appreciated collecting field.
![Ilkhanid gold and silver-inlaid brass candlestick](/media/73274/img_6-2.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132802382890000000)
Candlestick becomes most expensive Islamic metalwork
01 November 2021This exceptional Ilkhanid gold and silver-inlaid brass candlestick has become the most expensive Islamic metalwork sold at auction.
![img_13-3.jpg](/media/72843/img_13-3.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132798110850000000)
Christopher Dresser finds his time and place
27 October 2021Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) designed two electroplated claret or water jugs for Elkington & Co of Birmingham in 1885 – both of them daring designs inspired by vessels from antiquity.
![img_14-5.jpg](/media/72850/img_14-5.jpg?rxy=0.43673469387755104,0.31442080378250592&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132798209840000000)
Crawforth collection shows its metal
27 October 2021Aided by strong American bidding action, the collection of Andrew Crawforth, the late Portobello Road trader and leading authority on early metalware, turned base metal into gold when all 431 lots – offered wihtout reserve – sold at Bonhams’ (27.5% buyer’s premium) Edinburgh sale.
![Silver tankard](/media/71026/img_8-1.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132760094510000000)
Pick of the week: Putting China on course for golf
13 September 2021Estimated at £400-600, this 7in (17cm) high Chinese export silver dragon handled tankard sold for a much higher sum.
![img_20-5.jpg](/media/70550/img_20-5.jpg?rxy=0.54022988505747127,0.75797101449275361&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132754001610000000)
Not bad for a sewer find – 400-year-old candlestick proves 'where there’s muck there’s brass'
06 September 2021With the unusual provenance of having been dug out of a London sewer during excavations in 1930, the 15th or early 16th century copper alloy candlestick shown here underlined the truth of the maxim that where there’s muck there’s brass.
![img_34-1.jpg](/media/69770/img_34-1.jpg?rxy=0.55449330783938811,0.434640522875817&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132729868090000000)
Belgian buyers out in force as dealer's collection comes up for sale
09 August 2021Despite a disappointing selling rate, dealer’s collection included notable results
![Horn beakers](/media/68236/img_4-2.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132687567100000000)
Saleroom pulls ‘looted artefacts from Maqdala’ after Ethiopian appeal
21 June 2021A group of Ethiopian works of art believed to have been taken during the Battle of Maqdala in 1868 has been withdrawn from a Dorset auction after the Embassy of Ethiopia intervened.
![img_12-4.jpg](/media/67693/img_12-4.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132675363690000000)
Double Islamic and Indian interest
07 June 2021Shown here are two highlights from sales of Islamic & Indian art held by London salerooms recently.
![img_34-1.jpg](/media/67768/img_34-1.jpg?rxy=0.45423143350604489,0.55877862595419847&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132675402290000000)
Limoges plaque bidder hell bent on a purchase
07 June 2021Sixteenth century Limoges work depicts underworld scene from Virgil’s The Aeneid
![img_12-1.jpg](/media/66719/img_12-1.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132651149790000000)
Metalware collection based on long experience
10 May 2021John Douglas’ interest in antique base metalware started over 60 years ago.
![img_12-1.jpg](/media/65945/img_12-1.jpg?rxy=0.34676007005253939,0.31&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132633082840000000)
Taken up a peg or two from the estimate
19 April 2021The name ‘peg tankard’ comes from the vertical row of pegs inside that can be used to measure the amount of alcohol drunk as it was passed around a table.
![img_20-3.jpg](/media/64809/img_20-3.jpg?rxy=0.48057259713701433,0.32968236582694416&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132602843780000000)
Work of ‘modern day Grinling Gibbons’
15 March 2021This late Victorian carved lime and soft wood panel is by James Peake (c.1839-1918), a carver and gilder.
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