John Nicholson

The wealth of material brought back to Britain from the days of the East India Company was illustrated at John Nicholson’s (24% buyer’s premium) sale when four Indo-Portuguese or Anglo-Indian tortoiseshell and ivory works were consigned by different vendors.

Drawing interest from the US was a portrait of a fierce-looking Scottish laird by John Pettie (1839-93).

Three lots selling for multi-estimate sums at regional auctions in the UK including a Staffordshire slipware honey pot from c.1700 that drew demand at Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury.

A trademark nocturnal scene by Victorian painter John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-93) got away on low estimate for £80,000 at John Nicholson’s (25% buyer’s premium) of Haslemere in Surrey.

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days including the sale of a CRW Nevinson study.

This fine pair of Victorian silver six-branch candelabra sold to a United Arab Emirates bidder on thesaleroom.com for £13,000 at John Nicholson’s (24% buyer’s premium) in Haslemere, Surrey, on October 15.

There was a time when vintage Omega represented a cost-effective alternative to vintage Rolex. Today, the rule does not always apply.

Distinctly patriotic in nature, stage and mail coach depictions started c.1815, reaching peak popularity in the later 1820s with the artist James Pollard (1792-1867).

UK dealers buying foreign silver, overseas bidders taking British work and generally solid interest for traditional pieces of mid-ranking silver brightened up the normally quieter late summer sales across the country.

A small but enigmatic study attributed to Victorian artist Matthew Ridley Corbet (1850-1902) drew dramatic competition at John Nicholson’s in Fernhurst, Surrey.

A trio of works in regional auctions which sold under £300, including a watercolour of the River Dart in Devon by Thomas Bush Hardy.

Three modestly valued works in regional sales including a painting by a pioneer of Iraqi modern art.

St Augustine of Hippo’s De civitate Dei (below) was penned to counter pagan claims that what had prompted the Visigoth sacking of Rome in 410 was the adoption of Christianity by its emperors. The book was first printed around a thousand years later in the 1460s, but it was 150 years before a first English language edition appeared.

Private buying carried away two top-selling works at John Nicholson’s (24% buyer’s premium) in Haslemere, Surrey.

What is your bidding technique? This Bateman cartoon on offer at John Nicholson’s on May 23 should strike a chord with ATG readers who remember the days before bidding paddles.

The stellar sporting entry to John Nicholson’s (24% buyer’s premium) sale in Haslemere on April 25 was an early oil by the prolific equine painter, John E Ferneley (1782-1860).

Characterised by high-quality craftsmanship, a bold use of colour plus a love of whimsy, the menagerie of gem-set or enamel animal designs are particularly recognisable as signature Kutchinsky pieces.