Yorkshire and the Humber

Two pictures from local deceased estates drew solid competition at a recent sale at East Yorkshire auction house Hawleys (20% buyers premium) thanks to being offered with ‘there-to-be-sold’ estimates.

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.

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.

A rare ‘pocket watch’ sold by East Bristol Auctions (18% buyer’s premium) was more surveillance device than timekeeper.

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

Results from two salerooms including an £18,000 longcase reflect strong demand

Among the major changes to Sworders’ auction calendar because of the coronavirus lockdown is the addition of a monthly sale of jewellery, watches and objects of vertu.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a Frank O Salisbury portrait.

By tradition, Count Heinrich von Brühl (1700-63), chief minister and favourite to Augustus III, was a man famed for his fashion sense. His tailor was thus an important part of his entourage.

Estimated at just £1000-1500, this late-17th century walnut eight-day longcase clock sold via thesaleroom.com for £11,000 at Elstob & Elstob (22% buyer’s premium) in Ripon.

Of all the sensational jewellery displayed by Tiffany at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle the most memorable was a group of 24 enamelled orchid brooches.

Compiled by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey of Thirkleby Park in North Yorkshire, an illustrated manuscript on archery dating from the opening years of the last century has sold for £2600. It was part of a sale held in Leyburn by Tennants (20% buyer’s premium).

An unsigned Frank Auerbach (b.1931) sketch in coloured inks of Camden Theatre in London, a favourite subject of the artist, emerged as the top-selling lot at Scarborough saleroom David Duggleby (22.5% buyer’s premium).

A Linthorpe pottery dish designed for the Middlesbrough pottery by Dr Christopher Dresser sold online well over a £400-600 estimate for £4200 at Paul Beighton (17.5% buyer’s premium).

The popular Chinese game of mah-jong is a relative newcomer.

A c.1880 Doulton Lambeth stoneware tobacco jar and cover was one of the pleasant surprises at a recent David Duggleby (18.75% buyer’s premium) sale in Scarborough.

With supply generally exceeding demand for Spode services – such was their abundance on tables of the 19th century middle class – prices at auction remain modest.

An album of 35 photographs relating to the Alaskan ‘Gold Rush’ of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries sold for £1900 rather than the estimate of £50-70 in a recent North Yorkshire sale.

Long unseen material from the country home of an ancient English family brought some estimate-demolishing five-figure bids at Morphets (17.5% buyer’s premium) including a genuine sleeper.