"We had a record July," he said. "We had a lot of consignments coming in and the right things are making the right money. But it is important the right things are sold in the right place."
Among the highlights of the 583-lot outing on July 17 was a William de Morgan pottery dish with polychrome lustre decoration depicting a ghostly galleon on a turbulent sea with giant fish against a dark blue ground with clouds and seagulls.
The reverse of the 18 1/2in (47cm) diameter dish was beautifully decorated with an alternating radiating pattern and the dish was signed C.P. for Charles Passenger. Sourced from an Oxford client with a family connection to de Morgan, the lustre on this early 20th century vessel had faded a little but overall condition was good and the design unusual.
As a result, eight telephone lines were booked and a private buyer had to go to £9200 for ownership.
An equally well contested and nautically themed entry was the second highlight: an early Victorian carved mahogany pedestal clock with a circular brass dial enclosed within a carved rope twist border and resting on exquisitely worked dolphin supports and a rectangular swag covered base mounted with scallop shells.
The dial and backplate of this 2ft 8in (81cm) high triple fusee movement clock were signed J.R. Losada 105 Regent Street London and numbered 4379.
Clocks by the Spanish craftsman, who came to London in 1835, were highly fashionable for a short while and it is likely a naval family commissioned this timepiece.
Sourced from a hotel about 50 miles from Oxford, it eclipsed its upper estimate selling at £9200.
Lots with tremendous decorative appeal in the current market included an ornamental pair of late Victorian/early 20th century plaster casts modelled after the antique and a pretty Victorian carved marble bust of a girl.
The plaster panels, measuring 3ft 7in x 3ft 10in (1.09m x 1.17m) and 3ft 5in x 3ft 7in (1.04m x 1.09m) sold to a London dealer at £4200, while the bust, after the 19th century French sculptor Carriere Belluese, was a private buy at £1350.
Continuing demand for quality Arts and Crafts works saw a labelled Liberty & Co. beaten copper rectangular hanging wall mirror dating to c.1920 fetch £1200.
Looking good value for money, a quality 1940s Regency style reproduction mahogany framed bergère suite was secured at £900.
The sale totalled £110,000.
