Summers Place Auctions

Summers Place Auctions are a saleroom specialising in garden statuary and natural history

The current firm was formed in 2008 after Sotheby’s closed their saleroom in Billingshurst and a new company was established in the West Sussex town headed by James Rylands and Rupert van der Werff.

In 2012, Summers Place Auctions moved into their new gallery space and, in 2013, they held their first Evolution sale, including taxidermy, natural history, fossils and minerals – the highlight being a 57ft long Diplodocus.


Dodo bone at auction

Dead as a Dodo but definitely alive as a specialised collecting market

07 August 2024

Last week a taxidermy display including the extinct Huia bird of New Zealand sold for £38,000 at Kinghams’ sale. On September 24, it is the turn of another long-gone species to be brought to life in auction terms, at least.

img_16-4.jpg

Satyrs and nymphs back at Billingshurst

29 April 2024

The first auctions of the year at Summers Place Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Billingshurst – a live event on March 26 and a sealed bids sale on March 27 – included this pair of rare Portland stone groups of a nymph and satyr by Charles Sargeant Jagger (1885-1934).

img_12-1.jpg

Sundial displays Coade stone qualities

06 November 2023

Figure dating from 1792 demonstrates the advantages of the influential artificial stone used

img_14-4.jpg

Blanchard spread his wings to be the leading manufacturer of terracotta in Britain

15 May 2023

This rare pair of late 19th century terracotta eagles, each standing 2ft 2in (64cm) high have indistinct marks for Blanchard Terracotta London.

img_63-2.jpg

Rylands hangs up his gavel after a ‘roller coaster of fun’

24 April 2023

James Rylands, director and co-founder of Summers Place Auctions, is retiring after 44 years in the auction business

Nelson frieze

Nelson in frieze frame form takes a five-figure sum at Sussex auction

03 April 2023

This monumental white marble frieze titled Nelson receiving the Spanish surrender after the Battle of St Vincent was created c.1826 by the English sculptor Edward Hodges Baily (1788-1867).

img_30-1.jpg

Probable souvenir of earl’s Grand Tour at Summers Place Auctions

25 April 2022

Estimated at £25,000-40,000, this 15th century Istrian marble wellhead in the late Gothic style sold for £110,000 at Summers Place Auctions (25/20% buyer’s premium) in West Sussex on March 29.

Marble seasons statue

US bidder chooses French seasons from Spain

11 April 2022

A hitherto unrecorded set of four late 17th or early 18th century marble seasons statues took £230,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Summers Place Auctions in West Sussex on March 29.

Canova sculpture

Long lost Canova sculpture bought at a garden auction for less than £5000 to be offered for £5m-8m at Christie's

18 March 2022

A long lost Antonio Canova (1757-1822) sculpture that previously sold for around £4400 in a garden statuary auction in 2002 is to be offered at Christie’s on July 7 with an estimate of £5m-8m.

img_5-1.jpg

‘Poohsticks’ bridge will return to Hundred Acre Wood after auction

18 October 2021

The original ‘Poohsticks’ bridge from AA Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh books is to return to the ‘Hundred Acre Wood’ after it was bought by Buckhurst Park estate owner Lord De La Warr.

img_12-1.jpg

Marble and so much Moore

21 June 2021

Polymath Gerald Moore’s collection and his own artwork both attract bidders as Summers Place saleroom returns to action

2492NEDI edit barn Bellmans 2.jpg

The 'barn find' coming in at 26ft long and made of timber - and now up at auction

01 May 2021

Classic car enthusiasts talk reverentially about ‘barn finds’ laying undiscovered for many years and ready for restoration.

img_19-1.jpg

Extraordinary hidden statuary brings demand out in the open at Summers Place

02 November 2020

An extraordinary group of garden statuary, unseen for decades, was offered for sale recently at Summers Place Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Billingshurst, West Sussex.

HH 2463 summers place.jpg

Carved Cotswold stone seats take their place in pick of five auction highlights sold this week

09 October 2020

ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes stone seats unseen for decades and discovered in a hidden sunken garden.

img_9-2.jpg

Statues surface from sunken garden site after decades in the undergrowth

24 August 2020

An extraordinary cache of garden statuary, unseen for decades, comes for sale at Summers Place Auctions next month.

img_11-1.jpg

Summers Place Auctions' last-minute decision to take remote bids only pays off

27 April 2020

The sale at garden statuary specialist Summers Place Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Billingshurst on March 24 (the day after lockdown) was among the first conducted under new government restrictions on social distancing.

img_33-5.jpg

A Queen Anne-style giltwood dressing mirror and a First World War propeller chair are among four lots to watch this week

23 March 2020

With estimates from £1000-10,000 here are four previews of upcoming items this week that you can view and bid for remotely.

img_14-5.jpg

Treasures of the natural world (but in skeletal or stuffed form…)

02 December 2019

Extinct for 65 million years, dinosaurs continue to rule the world of children visiting the National History Museum, of multi-million dollar movie makers – and of bidders at the Evolution Sales at Summers Place Auctions (25% buyer’s premium).

img_39-4.jpg

Five lots to watch at auction this week including a rediscovered Paul Nash painting, a tripod table and a rare sampler

18 November 2019

With estimates from £600-70,000, here are five previews of upcoming sales this week.

img_14-5.jpg

Rare circular Georgian cistern emerges at Summers Place

14 October 2019

Always popular items, a Georgian lead cistern offered at Summers Place Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) was also rare in being circular. Usually they are rectangular, having stood against a wall connected to downpipes.

News

Categories