Catalogued as late 19th/early 20th century, but probably 200 years older, the 10 1/2in wide by 21in high (27cm by 53cm) brackets took a ten-times estimate £1200.
No garden section would be complete without some Coalbrookdale furniture. Here a cast iron chair with arched rayed back pierced with scrolling foliage and with a slatted wooden seat, sold at a bottom estimate £500, while a more unusual cast iron garden seat, the ends modelled as winged dragons, went to £800.
Back indoors, best of the ceramics was a pair of 12 1/2in (32cm) Royal Worcester porcelain vases and covers, with gilded scroll handles, circular foot and canted square base. Painted by F. Harper with roses and foliage over moulded stiff leaf banding, the pair sold at a double-estimate £3500.
A 19th century Austrian ten-piece cold painted bronze pug dog band, each piece 1 3/4in (4.5cm) high, was always going to be a popular entry – of all canines, pugs have the greatest following – and the set took £1150.
As usual, decorative and unusual furniture entries took the top spots. A pair of 8ft 4in high by 4ft 3in wide (2.54 by 1.29m) 19th century gothic rosewood bookcases, with straight cornices, blind fret friezes, fleurs-de-lys surmounts and protruding cluster column corners with lobed finials, made £4000.
However, the real gem was an 18th century Yorkshire oak rocking armchair with square section legs, winged back, arched top rail and scrolled arms. It doubled hopes with £2300.
Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson pieces are always a lucrative niche category for the West Yorkshire saleroom, exemplified here by an adzed oak tallboy with multi-panelled doors with iron latch and hinges enclosing shelving and drawers. Local interest was strong but not up to US demand – the tallboy sold to a New York phone bidder at £3400.
The silver had an unusually high number of trade entries including rows of 20th century tea services – “enough to daunt the fainter hearts,” commented auctioneer Andrew Hartley who was happy with a selling rate of 85 per cent.
While more run- of-the-mill silver sold within realistic estimates, novelty pieces again did well.
An early 20th century cocktail shaker in the form of a lighthouse with railed gallery took £1250, while a Victorian ram’s horn snuff mull with silver domed lid topped by a rearing horse finial made £240.
Specialist spots oak sleeper in garden venture
A TIMELY debut for a garden and architectural items section at Andrew Hartley's April 9-10 sale (10% buyer's premium) brought in private buyers who usually fire this market but also a specialist who spotted a sleeper – a pair of carved oak corbels, each depicting the head of a cherub over an acanthus leaf and scroll base.
