Auctions

Two copies of Alcoholics Anonymoussigned by the founder of movement, Bill Wilson, were among the more successful lots in an August 15 Pacific Book Auctions sale of ‘Books in all Fields’.

THE Italian painter Pietro Annigoni (1910-1988) is forever associated in English minds with his dramatic 1955 portrait of The Queen, which now hangs in The National Portrait Gallery and which still has plenty of admirers, including HM herself.

Fishermen’s tales are usually too tall to swallow, and the following account of a frenzied struggle on a Dorset riverbank in May 1912 would be scarcely credible were it not for the stuffed and cased evidence, right.

It’s difficult to imagine how many children and would-be children have enjoyed a trip on this very original ride since it was first constructed by Savage Bros Ltd of Kings Lynn in 1901. Known as Harry Lee’s Famous Steam Double Yacht Ride, its two yachts, Columbia and Shamrock, carry an impressive capacity of 30 passengers.

Internationally recognised specialist carriage auctioneers Thimbleby & Shoreland (6% buyer’s premium) rated their quarterly outing on September 4 outing in Reading as one of their best yet. “We were lucky to have quite a few pieces in the sale which were a bit different,” said specialist Sarah Needham.

THEY LIKE a good sermon in this part of the world and in this September sale, a 1611 (seventh or eighth?) edition of the sermons of Henry Smith, a puritan divine who was known as “silver-tongued Smith”, and whose collected wisdom first appeared in print in 1592, sold at £320 (Humber) in a binding of contemporary calf gilt, while a 350pp manuscript collection of sermons, this time bound in 19th century calf, made £1100 (Lachman).

This impressive equine statuette, right, proved to be the high point of Bonhams’ September 18 sale of British ceramics and glass at Bond Street. The 163/4in (42.5cm) high model decorated in cream and black is set on a rectangular plinth sponged and painted in green, blue and pink.

Benefiting from the long summer gap but seeing the best-and-rest polarisation that affects most categories of the art market these days, there were mixed results for Christie’s South Kensington’s 299-lot sale of Selected Silver on September 10.

Only the idealists of the Arts and Crafts movement could transform a humble display of wares into a decorative work of art, and the small manufacturing firm of Jesson Birkett and Co. had done just that with this sample board, right, offered at Bonhams’ Oxford sale on 17 September.

THE Coppa Italia is the Italian equivalent of the English FA cup. When the example shown right was won by Torino in 1943 it was the second occasion on which they had taken home the trophy.

The 1440 lots of 20th century decorative arts offered on the first day of the September 3,4 sale at the Bristol Auction Rooms (buyer’s premium 12.77%) included a range of ceramics, plus a dozen items of metalware and furniture, but the lot that really made the decorator trade sit up was this 4ft 1in (1.25m) terracotta creation, right, by Goldscheider.

After some research Guy Schwinge of Duke’s in Dorchester discovered this rare English porcelain mug to be an early piece of Worcester and not Bow as originally catalogued.

FRENCH auction laws may have been reformed, but monopolies still exist, as Christie’s have just found to their cost.

THIS 75 per cent-complete shell of the extinct South American mammal known as the Glypdodont, pictured right, will be the star attraction of a highly unusual single-owner collection of ornithological and palaeontological specimens being sold by the Moulins auctioneers Enchères Sadde on October 20.

THE sales figures from Duke’s sale August 15 & 16 (buyer's premium: 15 per cent) would look good at any time in the year but coming in the high summer for a sale of silver, jewellery and furniture, they were particularly pleasing for auctioneer Matthew Denney.

LATE, but interesting news arrives from Northumberland in the form of this 18th century bracket clock, right, by Horseman and Quare, which emerged from a Northumbrian farmhouse to be the star of the sale held by Jim Railton (15% buyer’s premium) at Newcastle Racecourse on July 13.

The bane of the shop trade and the boon of auctioneers – the Internet has certainly transformed the marketplace and nowhere is this more true than toy sales.

LONDON antiquarian books saleroom Bloomsbury Book Auctions are to sell a major library with no buyer’s premium – partially as a marketing exercise. Managing director Rupert Powell believes this is the first time since the premium was introduced in the 1970s that a British auction house has waived the levy.

ASIAN dealers and collectors wishing to escape the grime of city life for more wholesome surrounds could have done worse than take a busman’s holiday to America’s pukka east coast resort of Cape Cod where Eldred’s (15% buyer’s premium), held their annual Asian series in East Dennis, from August 20-24. “In Cape Cod people combine their vacation with the sales,” explained Eldred’s press officer Jo Leal Clark.

THERE was no notable furniture in Mallams 495-lot sale on August 28 (buyer's premium: 15 per cent), but a healthy selling rate for silver and jewellery and some good prices for an assortment of oddities and decorative entries, boosted overall figures.