Canterbury Auction Galleries

Try original advertising artwork if you want to capture the atmosphere of an era.

‘Significant damage and rust’ was spot on as a catalogue description when it came to an enamel sign sold at Cotswold Auction Company (22% buyer’s premium) on February 8. It was a mess.

This 1930s pencil and gouache for the Lawn Tennis Championship Meetings was a poster design for London Underground.

An example of the work of northern artist Norman Cornish (1919-2014) appeared down south at Canterbury Auction Galleries (22.5% buyer’s premium).

Qing period embroidered satin throne-back cushion covers can be seen still in situ in a number of the buildings in the Forbidden City including the Hall of Supreme Principle and the Palace of Eternal Spring. Others are held by institutions and collectors throughout the world.

An “extremely rare” gold Thrymsa, or shilling, dating from 640-660 and minted in Northumbria or York, was the highlight of a pensioner’s collection of Anglo-Saxon coins sold at Canterbury Auction Galleries (27% buyer’s premium inc VAT) on October 3.

With 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.

Tony Pratt, chairman of the Canterbury Auction Galleries passed away peacefully at home on June 11 after celebrating his 66th birthday with friends and family.

The directors of The Canterbury Auction Galleries are shocked and deeply saddened to report the sudden death of Tony Pratt, the chairman of the company.

The Annie Marchant (‘Breadboard Annie’) collection of domestic and country antiques offered in Kent on April 12-13 produced many strong prices.

The mouthwatering kitchenalia collection of Annie Marchant (1951-2020) certainly served up a treat when it came to auction on April 12-13.

Collection offered in Canterbury recalls the bizarre family life of Stanley Spencer

This pair of life-size bronze busts depict the tragic young figures Publius Septimus Geta, son of emperor Septimus Severus, and his sister-in-law Plautilla.

Estimated at £200-300 in a Kent sale, a military commission that bears the signature of King George III and is additionally signed and endorsed by William Pitt the Elder, Britain’s prime minister at the time of the Seven Years War, sold online instead for £7500.

A painting of apple blossom by the Austrian Impressionist Olga Wisinger-Florian (1844-1926) drew a five-way online bidding battle at Canterbury Auction Galleries (24% buyer’s premium inc VAT) on August 1.

This 12in (39cm) Portobello pottery plaque piece, c.1820, is a rare piece but one known in a number of different colour variations.

The hunger among buyers to acquire good quality jewellery stayed strong during lockdown, writes John Benjamin.

In 1765 the engineer and entrepreneur Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) visited Paris, where he observed first-hand the workshops of bronziers and the wares that were proving hugely popular with Georgian Britain’s elite.