Auctions

THE thwack of the polo mallet was replaced by the repeated thud of the gavel earlier this month at the Cowdray estate in West Sussex, celebrated as one of the great British polo venues and the seat of the Viscount Cowdray.

ON a sparkling evening at Sotheby’s in Bond Street last Thursday, Henry Wyndham presided over a charity auction in aid of the Company of Arts Scholars, Dealers and Collectors’ charity fund, raising over £60,000 to support the education of young people seeking careers in all areas of the decorative arts from dealing and auctioneering to museums and galleries.

Lowestoft porcelain specialist and Suffolk auctioneer Russell Sprake is marking 50 years in the auction business this month with perhaps his finest ever sale.

AUCTIONEERS Martel Maides of St Peter Port in Guernsey were amazed to encounter this Channel Islands silver table bell in a recent over-the-counter valuation.

THE largest 'Conjuring' sale seen in London for some time, at Bloomsbury Auctions on September 8, had at its core the 460-lot collection of the late Bob Read, a 'Close-Up Entertainer' and lecturer in the UK and USA who was a tireless researcher into the history of magic and conjuring.

CORDIER Antiques & Auctions of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania have announced the opening of their new auction house at 1500 Paxton Street in the city of Harrisburg.

BILLED as the largest and most important country house auction of the year, Christie's three-day sale at Cowdray Park in West Sussex, netted £6.4m hammer against a £5m top estimate.

FORTY lots, including luxury holidays, internships and unique visits to museums and stately homes, as well as art and antiques, are to be offered in a grand charity auction at Sotheby's on the evening of September 22 on behalf of the Company of Arts Scholars, Dealers and Collectors. A further 45 lots will be auctioned online at www.i-bidder.com/charityauction

SOME fine early English porcelain came up at the latest sale held by Chorley's of Prinknash Abbey, Gloucestershire.

DESPITE the uncertain economic conditions that have cooled the art market in Australia, last month saw a new high for one the country’s most highly regarded artists.

THE amputation tools used by a surgeon on the battlefields of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) will appear at auction in October.

THIS carved and painted figurehead of a country girl once adorned the bow of The Coonatto, an English ship that served the Australian wool and tea trade.

THE uplifting story of how West Auckland FC won ‘the first world cup’ has gone down in the annals of English football.

THE Edinburgh sales at Bonhams and Lyon & Turnbull in August both featured Wemyss wares, offering an opportunity to assess the current market.

The latest sale of Scottish silver at Lyon & Turnbull included a number of early Edinburgh hollowares, including this pair of James VI (I of England) communion cups.

THIS Holtzapffel & Deyerlein ornamental turning lathe made in London c.1827 came up for sale at Skinner in Marlborough, Massachusetts in a Science, Technology and Clocks sale.

FRENCH auction houses have won their battle to conduct private treaty sales.

A LOCAL private collection provided the most memorable highlight of Tennants' latest two-day sale in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, this fine and rare James II ebony-veneered table timepiece by John Knibb.

ICONIC is the only word to describe two gold medals offered at a recent sale by Noble Numismatics of Melbourne, Australia.

THIS fine set of three George II rococo casters by Eliza Godfrey, London 1752 sold for £66,000 at Henry Adams of Chichester on July 14.