Leicestershire

Catalogued simply as an ‘African ceremonial tribal spear’ and estimated at £200-300, a Luba staff of office sold for an unexpected £18,500 (plus 15% buyer’s premium) at Gildings’ first sale of the new year in Market Harborough.

The sale at Knights Sporting Auctions in Leicester on November 2-3 includes a number of items previously sold by Christie’s as duplicates from the library of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 2010.

A sale at Gildings in Market Harborough this month included 10 lots from the family of Albert and Nora McGill – influential industrialists credited with a key role in the founding of Russia’s cotton mill industry in the mid-19th century.

An exceptional example of Thai silversmithing has sold for £13,500 (plus 17.5% buyer’s premium) in Leicestershire.

Racing along to a double-estimate £2400, this tinplate clockwork Tri-ang Magic Midget made by Line Bros in 1933, led the field at the 450-lot toys sale at Gildings (15% buyer’s premium) in Market Harborough on June 24.

Containing an original watercolour, one of just a dozen de luxe copies of the 1931, Harrap edition of Izaak Walton’s 'Compleat Angler', illustrated by Arthur Rackham, made a record equalling £10,000 at Gildings (18/12% buyer’s premium) of Market Harborough.

Among the most iconic works of David Hockney’s (b.1937) output was his Paper Pools series, focusing on the private Californian swimming pools he experienced in the late 1970s.

A scarce Meissen figure, but no stranger to these pages in recent months (see ATG No 2349), Count Bruhl’s Tailor rode his goat to more success at Gildings (15% buyer’s premium) on September 4.

It was only a matter of time before a treasure from the hot new British ceramics market emerged out of nowhere and onto the rostrum in the long tradition of boom areas.

House enhanced by the great architect hosts fresh July fair which is already half booked by dealers wanting to stand.

Two big names dominated the 20th Century Decorative Arts sale held by Gildings (15% buyer’s premium) in Market Harborough on November 7.

A painting of St Tropez by the Fauvist painter Charles Camoin (1879-1965) went under the hammer for the first time in more than half a century at Gildings (15% buyer’s premium).

A painting from the early career of French artist Auguste Herbin (1882-1960) appeared on the market for the first time in nearly a century at Gildings’ Market Harborough salerooms on March 28.