Clevedon Salerooms

Late last year auctioneer and valuer Mark Huddleston received three images of a chief’s staff or pole club along with an ‘is this worth anything’ enquiry. The vendor had inherited it from his family who (by repute) had done Presbyterian missionary work in Polynesia in the 19th century.

Trapani in western Sicily has for centuries been renowned as a centre for objects mounted with carved coral, a tradition that derives from the nearby coral reefs and reached its height in the 17th and 18th centuries.

A copy of a lost painting that has been described as one of the most haunting and poignant depictions of Irish involvement in the First World War attracted a flurry of bids at Clevedon Salerooms (22% buyer’s premium) in Bristol.

Naive artworks that can also suit modern decorating taste are rising in popularity and price.

Nineteenth-century Grand Tourists and souvenirs from the Orient made for a highly successful outing near Bristol where micro-mosaic panels, intaglios and Chinese vessels led the way at Clevedon Saleooms (22% buyer’s premium).

While traditional antique furniture prices are still relatively cheap, contemporary and mid-20th century material continues to be an expanding market.

Sourced from a private property south of Bristol, this street scene with peasant women engaged in a trance-like dance sold at a local auction house.

Offered as part of a sale held in Bristol were two copies of 'The Merchants Avizo….', a work by a local man, John Browne.

Consigned from a private deceased estate, a group of decorative mosaic floor tile fragments took a multi-estimate £2200 at Clevedon Salerooms (22% buyer’s premium) in Bristol.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a John Piper church screen print.

Albert Moulton Foweraker’s (1873-1942) main interest as a watercolourist was the effect of blue moonlight on the landscape.

An Irish family portrait attributed to Francis Wheatley (1747-1801) led the picture section at Clevedon Salerooms (20% buyer’s premium) on September 14 in Bristol.

A record sale total, the trade in buying mood and traditional furniture selling well – all further evidence that 2017 so far is proving rather less catastrophic than some had forecast.