Tennants

Always popular at auction, always great to write about – so no excuses needed for featuring a selection of the weird and wonderful Second World War spy and sabotage gadgets and ingenious escape devices which do appear often in sales.

As hugely personal items and of relatively small melt value, spoons represent the great majority of English domestic silver items surviving from the pre-civil war period.

The distinctive Antipodean ‘botanical’ jewellery of the gold rush era is among the first to depict the native flora and fauna. It is of huge cultural significance to Australia and its mining heritage.

Tennants’ (20% buyer’s premium) latest sale of Modern and Contemporary art generated some confident bidding both online and in the room, taking in limited-edition prints by famous names.

The Fine Wine & Whisky sale at Tennants on December 12 features this Macallan-Glenlivet 1937 35-year-old Pure Highland Malt Scotch Whisky.

The Submariner 5508 released in 1958 was the last of the so-called ‘James Bond’ Submariners.

A number of wildlife sculptures, a niche sub-set of the Mod Brit art market, have performed well recently – perhaps as a result of the increased love of the natural world experienced by many during the lockdown crossing over into the art market.

Two lots from Tennants’ (20% buyer’s premium) sale in Leyburn on September 4. The 17th century Korean leather and steel helmet sold to a South Korean buyer for £4800.

North Yorkshire saleroom Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) has a solid track-record with the artist Joash Woodrow (1927-2006). Eight of his top 10 auction prices are held by the Leyburn saleroom (source: Artprice by Artmarket).

This 4ft (1.2m) long Tongan Aku-Tau ironwood war club will feature in a sale of Militaria and Ethnographica to be held by Tennants in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, on September 4.

This Gauge II steam-powered locomotive below was made by Schoenner, the Nüremberg toymaker operating founded by Jean Schoenner in 1875.

Two pictures with animal appeal generated decent bidding at a North Yorkshire auction.

Classic Robert Thompson products from family collections underline current keen demand.

Solid selling punctuated by a number of estimate-eclipsing bids made the July 17-18 sale a very welcome return to business for Tennants (20% buyer’s premium).

The Hornby train set is 100 years old this year. ATG reports on the sale of a remarkable century-old survivor plus highlights from across the UK regions

A 19th century doll’s house sold for £8500 at North Yorkshire saleroom Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) – but its real appeal came from what was inside.

Not to be confused with the modern reissues, the original Vulcain Cricket was marketed in 1947 as the world’s first wristwatch with an alarm.

The 252-lot Natural History and Taxidermy auction at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) on June 19 included this Victorian anthropomorphic diorama of card-playing, cigar-smoking red squirrels, c.1870-1900.

Keeping cool was just one of the many uses of the Georgian and Victorian fan.