Special Auction Services

After a month’s hiatus, a number of top-tier regional auction houses are returning to the rostrum to conduct ‘live online’ sales.

With just five of the 630 lots of toys and models failing to get away and an £80,000 total well above top hopes, Special Auctions Services’ Newbury sale was, said auctioneer Hugo Marsh, “just like the old days – even better”.

Concert posters from the earliest days of bands that later became famous are particulary sought-after at auction. Leading this selection from recent sales is a five-figure example from 1964 which promotes one of the first Rolling Stones tour performances, but many others are available at a lower price range announcing appearances at venues with evocative names such as Bridlington Spa Hall, Basildon Locarno Ballroom and Barnston Women’s Institute.

Sotheby’s has undergone a restructure following the purchase of the auction house by telecoms businessman Patrick Drahi earlier this year.

Tucked inside an18th century treen model of a ship’s hull is a historic note reading This was taken out of a writing bureau belonging to Lord Collingwood. I saw the bureau and know its history.

The talented Sèvres factory decorator Desire Leroy (1840-1908) came to the United Kingdom in 1878 to take up an appointment at Minton in Staffordshire. However, he is perhaps best known for his work at the Royal Crown Derby where he worked from 1890, aged 50, until his death in 1908.

The practice of placing a metal mark on a building to indicate insurance against a fire started in earnest after the Great Fire of London (1666). Each insurance company had its own fire service and distinctive logo.

Newbury’s Special Auction Services is to expand into a double-height saleroom in the new year.

Special Auction Services’ (17.5% buyer’s premium) sale in Newbury on July 9 included a wide selection of edged weapons which was topped by a mid-19th century Japanese short sword or tanto estimated at £200-300.