Auction Reports

The response among Sixties regulars at a north London pub to the fly poster, below, advertising a gig by the High Numbers may well have been: The who?

Two 19th century ‘prestige’ knives from southern Africa attracted unexpected levels of bidding at Grand Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Folkestone. Estimated at just £40-80 each, they made a combined £9200.

The artist John Hurford was a key figure in the British psychedelia movement of the late 1960s.

It was during the so-called Transitional period, the era of protracted civil war that marked the transition from Ming to Qing, that the centuries-old system of court-sponsored porcelain manufacture at Jingdezhen collapsed.

The recent Mallams (22.5% buyer’s premium) live online sale of Chinese, Japanese and Islamic art in Cheltenham included Chinese works on paper and textiles from a relative of Katherine Talati (1922-2015).

Pictured here is one of two 19th century or earlier Maori greenstone 'mere' offered at a recent sale held by Reeman Dansie (20% buyer’s premium) in Colchester.

The maxim that major names and top quality will always sell was underlined in the biannual specialist clocks sale at Dreweatts (25% buyer’s premium).

From the house clearance of a deceased estate, a small collection of Arts & Crafts metalwork triggered an estimate-demolishing response from dealers and collectors at Fieldings (20% buyer’s premium).

Estimated at £150-200, this Georgian dial clock stormed to £4800 at Charterhouse (25% buyer’s premium) in Sherborne. Two collectors made much of the bidding.

This large 16in (40cm) high baluster faience vase, sold by Hansons (25% buyer’s premium) in Teddington, is by ‘father of art pottery movement’ Joseph-Théodore Deck (1823-91).

This late Victorian silver-gilt and enamel ‘freedom casket’ sold at Ibbett Mosely (15% buyer’s premium) of Sevenoaks carries the name of John Aynsley II (1823-1907) and was awarded following his tenure as mayor of Longton from 1886-90.

Despite – or because of – the imminent prohibition, good-quality antique ivory works of art continue to bring solid prices at auction.

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.

A highpoint of the Dreweatts (25% buyer’s premium) ‘lockdown’ sale of Asian art in Newbury was provided by this 19th century Chinese export silver gilt and enamelled box.

This 12½in (31cm) ruby lustre jar and cover, a textbook piece from William De Morgan’s Sands End Pottery (1888-1907), was the star at a recent sale at Bowler & Binnie (16% buyer’s premium) in Dunfermline.

Topping the Mid-Century Design sale held by Sworders (25% buyer’s premium) in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, was a trademark work by Peter Collingwood (1922-2008) – the British craftsman at the forefront of weaving for 50 years.

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.

Joan Dunk (1930-2019) was a Portobello Road market stalwart. Her stall, for decades an outside pitch on the corner of Westbourne Grove, was affectionately known as IDA – the trade name of an early 20th century German kitchen equipment manufacturer which she adapted to mean ‘Interesting Domestic Appliances’.

Collector’s philosophy for his compulsive pottery buying chimed with Buddhist beliefs

A Qing dynasty (1644-1911) embroidered silk hanging scroll topped Sworders’ (25% buyer’s premium) Asian art sale on May 28, selling online for £21,000.