The biggest money was reserved for a Charles II bleeding bowl. Of plain circular form and pierced with a stylised trefoil handle, it had the maker’s mark P.M., between two stars, London 1681, 51/2ozs, 5in (13cm) in diameter. It fetched £3800.
A George II argyle of vase shape with reeded borders and with a crest, by Charles Aldridge, 14ozs, London 1790 saw several buyers contest the lot to £2500.
Novelty silver continued to be in strong demand.
A nib cleaner in the form of a pig with hogs’ bristles back by Levi and Salaman, Birmingham, 1904 tickled the fancy of one buyer who bid £140, an Edwardian novelty pincushion in the form of a hedgehog, Birmingham 1907, Adie and Lovekin Ltd, made £260 and outperforming them all, a much earlier novelty, – a George III vinaigrette in the form of a fossil with dot-prick engraved panels by Matthew Linwood, Birmingham 1806, which brought £410.
The oldest piece of tableware on offer was a George I double-ended marrow scoop, William Scarlett, London, 1714, which scooped up £460.
Flatware may lack the visual appeal of novelty works but it is as reliable commercially, and all bar one of the 29 silver flatware lots at Leeds found buyers. An elaborate silver gilt vine pattern flatware service by C.J. Vander, London 1970, approx. 112oz, brought £2200, while the unusual pattern of the late Victorian Napier pattern flatware service by Aldwinkle and Slater, London 1890, 100oz, ensured it exceeded expectations at £1800.
Not everything sold – the estimates of £3000-4000 on a Victorian tea and coffee service, London 1873, and £1500-2500 on a Queen Anne tankard, London 1704, 24ozs, turned out to be too high for bidders.
A number of jewellery entries added sparkle to the sale, including a mid-Victorian pearl, diamond and enamel suite of necklace, bangle, brooch and earrings, in bloomed gold embellished by a central half pearl within a rose diamond and blue enamel star borders. It was contested to £3400.
Phillips, Leeds, March 6
Buyer’s premium: 15/10 per cent
Bleeding bowl sets pulses racing on a quiet Leeds day
NOT one of the best silver and jewellery sales ever to have been held at Phillips, Leeds – most entries sold at under £1000 – there was nevertheless some keen buying with a very satisfactory 89 per cent success rate and the occasional prized item.
