Halls Fine Art

The fine pictures, silver and jewellery auction at Halls of Shrewsbury on June 27 will offer for sale the coronets and accompanying robes bought in the second quarter of the 19th century from Garrard & Co Ltd and worn by the Earl and Countess of Cavan.

GENERATING a 25-minute bidding battle at Halls' sale in Shrewsbury on October 20, The Earl of Oxford's Roan or Bloody shouldered Arabian by John Wootton (c.1682-1764) set a new house record when it was finally knocked down to an anonymous UK buyer for £326,000.

MORE than 130 pieces of Caughley blue and white porcelain from a Worcestershire collection sold for £56,000 when it returned to Shropshire for sale at Halls in Shrewsbury.

JAMES BRINDLEY lies amongst these Rocks,He made Canals, Bridges, and Locks...

Shrewsbury auctioneers Halls will have a new format for their weekly sales in the new year.

Quarterly sales of modestly-priced art and antiques, which were introduced for the first time this year by leading Shropshire auction house Halls, are to become a regular fixture in the company’s sales calendar.

ESTATE Agents Humberts’ withdrawal from the fine art and antique auctions market has led to new intiatives elsewhere.

This walnut table by the English architect-designer Edward William Godwin (1833-86), was spotted by Jeremy Lamond from Shrewsbury-based Halls during a routine valuation visit to a house in the Welshpool area.

Humberts of Gloucestershire have bought the estate agency and fine art auction business of Halls of Shrewsbury.

Halls auctioneer Jeremy Lamond expected the relaunch of his Shrewsbury saleroom to be the biggest challenge of the month. But a small box of antiques consigned for sale soon changed that.

FRIENDS, relatives and colleagues have been shocked by the death of Richard Allen, former Director of Halls fine art auctioneers of Shropshire, in a road accident last Thursday. The tragedy occurred as Mr Allen was returning from a viewing.

Halls (15% buyer’s premium) "It was quite a rare object, in good working order and sang beautifully.”

A QUALITY furniture grouping and a small, but strong, Oriental section contributed to the upbeat performance of Halls (15% buyer's premium) 258-lot sale on July 14, the top lot of which, a £24,000 George III mahogany longcase, was illustrated on the front cover of Antiques Trade Gazette No. 1650 dated July 31 and August 7.

PART of a collection of antiques from a late Shrewsbury area farmer’s estate, this 8ft 6in (2.59m) mahogany longcase clock made in 1765 by London clockmaker Ellicot was in original condition when it appeared at the Welsh Bridge saleroom of Halls' Fine Art on July 14.

IN 1851 it wowed the world when it won the Council Medal at the Great Exhibition, but for decades its whereabouts have been a mystery. Now, after years of research, Jeremy Lamond, a director of Halls Fine Art, of Shrewsbury, has solved the puzzle of what happened to the first ever exhibition sideboard.

WHILE recent months have seen some softening in the majolica market as a whole, scarce pieces by good makers continue to attract bids close to those they did three or four years ago. Pictured right is one of George Jones’ best-known Stilton dish designs, modelled as a thatched bee skep on a rustic base of mottled greens and browns that also includes a registration lozenge for 1872.

DESPITE the well-documented vagaries of the silver and electroplate market, if vendors can forget the price history of the previous two decades it is still possible to hold a successful sale of country house tablewares.

WEEKLY antique valuation days at their recently opened estate agency in Welshpool have begun to pay dividends for Shrewsbury-based auctioneers Halls (15% buyer's premium), and specialist Jeremy Lamond hopes that the firm’s presence there will help broaden their Welsh client base.

Despite the unpredictable trading conditions of the last 12 months, Tennants posted record trading figures for 2003. Aided by a bumper £1.62m autumn catalogue sale, total sales at The Auction Centre, Leyburn from January to December 2003 were £8.44m (not including premium), a substantial improvement upon the previous year when the North Yorkshire operation posted hammer sales of £7.4m.

Halls Fine Art of Shrewsbury discovered this ornate carved oak sideboard, valued at up to £35,000, at a home in the Welshpool area and will offer it at auction on September 24. The sideboard was commissioned by John Naylor for the dining room at Leighton Hall, near Welshpool and made by famous furniture makers J. D. Crace after a design by Pugin.