Sworders

Given the GlaxoSmithKline link, it was not a surprise to see four apothecaries’ cabinets among the contents of North Mymms Park sold at Sworders.

“When I come to look back at my career, I think this sale will have been the highlight,” said auctioneer Guy Schooling, 40 years at the rostrum, after selling the contents of Hertfordshire country house North Mymms Park.

The increasing market interest in modern designer silver was well catered for among the contents of North Mymms Park offered at Sworders.

The primary contents of North Mymms Park in Hertfordshire – including an important collection of European tapestries – provided Sworders with its best-ever sale last week.

Essex saleroom Sworders (23% buyer’s premium) set a new auction high for Belle Epoque artist Albert de Belleroche (1864-1944).

An unexpected highlight of a recent sale at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet was this set of four early real tennis rackets. They came from a client in the North of England and had been owned by the family for many years.

This late 19th century ‘natural history’ specimen purports to be the mummified body of a creature that was half mammal and half fish.

Sworders is to sell the primary contents of North Mymms Park, Hertfordshire – including a collection of European tapestries that have been at the property for over a century.

Good times ahead were predicted by Guy Schooling, chairman of Sworders (23% buyer’s premium), after the January 9 Homes & Interiors sale at Stansted Mountfitchet which was topped by a WAS Benson brass mantel clock.

The so-called ‘Great Bardfield Artists’, named after the Essex village where a community of painters and designers lived from the 1930s onwards, has become fertile ground for local auction house Sworders (22% buyer’s premium).

This 17th century Indian painting attributed to one of the best artists of the Mughal court sold for £42,000 at Sworders’ December 5 Country House Sale.

The presence of two Turkish gentlemen at the Objects of Desire sale at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet on October 18 had raised a few eyebrows – if only because they appeared singularly disinterested in the contents of this ‘handbags and gladrags’ sale.

A nude painting by the 19th century English artist William Etty (1787-1849) starred in Sworders’ (22% buyer’s premium) sale in Essex. The 2ft 2in x 19in (66 x 49cm) oil on panel shows a naked woman in a wooded landscape, her head and body turned away from the viewer.

This 17th century Indian painting attributed to one of the finest artists of the Mughal court was recently discovered in a private collection in Suffolk. Sworders will offer it for sale in their December 5 Country House Sale with an estimate of £10,000-15,000.