A private collection of railway memorabilia and O-gauge model steam locomotives has been consigned for the May 5 sale at Halls in Shrewsbury.
The collection includes totems, shed plates and this cast-iron nameplate for the Great Western Railway Castle Class locomotive Nunney Castle (shown top).
It is offered with the cab-side number plate and smokebox plate (5029) estimated at £4000-6000.
The loco was built at Swindon Works in 1934, and takes the name of a small castle near Frome, Somerset. It was taken to the famous Barry scrapyard in south Wales in 1964 but was rescued 12 years later and restored.
fineart.hallsgb.com or see this item on thesaleroom.com
Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night poster - estimate £500-800 at Ewbank’s on May 7.
Surrey saleroom Ewbank’s says the consignment for its upcoming single-owner film poster Michael Armstrong collection is so large that it has had to delay the auction by a week in order to complete cataloguing it.
Armstrong was the longstanding and final projectionist at The Regal cinema in Wymondham, Suffolk, before it closed in 1993. When the cinema closed, he opened his own mini replica, complete with its recycled fixtures and fittings, by converting the garage at his home. He retained all of the promotional posters and lobby cards in “first class condition”.
The 320-lot auction now on May 7 includes three posters for the Beatles films Yellow Submarine (estimate £700-1000), Help! (estimate £500-800) and A Hard Day’s Night (shown here – £500-800).
ewbankauctions.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
One of two paintings by Australian artist Sir Sidney Nolan estimated at £4000-6000 each in a timed online sale being staged from April 15-May 2 by 1818 Auctioneers.
Two paintings by Australian artist Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-92) are estimated at £4000-6000 each in a timed online sale being staged from April 15-May 2 by Cumbrian firm 1818 Auctioneers.
Both titled Red Desert, one of them signed (shown here), the oil on canvas paintings were bequeathed to a Catholic priest, Frederick George Jackson. He worked in Kensington, London, and helped with services at the Church of Holy Trinity and St George in Kendal. He died last July and the paintings are being sold as part of his estate.
David Brookes, valuer at 1818 Auctioneers, said: “The paintings meant a lot to Father Freddie. We understand they were left to him by a lady in Kensington. Correspondence tells us Nolan’s daughter attended her memorial service suggesting a personal family connection.” The National Gallery of Australia has included the paintings in the artist’s catalogue raisonné.
1818auctioneers.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
Charles Horner Art Nouveau brooch with marks for Chester 1909 – estimate £100-200 at Cottees on May 1.
Cottees’ auction of jewellery in Poole, Dorset, on May 1 includes this Charles Horner Art Nouveau silver and enamel butterfly brooch with marks for Chester 1909.
Estimate £100-200.
cottees.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
Continental painted chest with unicorns dated 1857 - estimate £200-400 at Charterhouse on May 5.
The contents of a Somerset country house, untouched for 60 years, are being sold in the Charterhouse on May 5.
The Sherborne saleroom was asked to help clear the property after a family member died. Every room was “filled with Georgian and later furniture, portrait and other paintings, miniatures, naïve art, ceramics including an extensive collection of Victorian pottery nursery plates, metalwares, shells and cabinets of curios with minerals, seals and other collector’s items”.
Outside, the auctioneers discovered a late Victorian shepherd’s hut, garden urns and ornaments, all of which are also included in the auction.
Shown here is a Continental painted chest with unicorns dated 1857, from the landing, estimated at £200-400.
charterhouse-auction.com or see this item on thesaleroom.com
René Lalique Ceylan vase - estimate £6000-8000 in the Lyon & Turnbull auction at the Mall Galleries, London, on April 29.
René Lalique (1860-1945) glass is taking centre stage at Lyon & Turnbull. The firm’s first dedicated Lalique sale, curated by former Christie’s specialist Joy McCall, will be held at the Mall Galleries, London, on April 29. The first 57 of 107 lots are from a private European collection.
McCall describes this Ceylan vase as “probably my take-home lot. It is simply best Ceylan vase I have ever seen in 25 years of handling Lalique because of the depth of the opalescence and the subtlety of the green staining. It’s superb – right down to the long tails of the birds that were very often polished down during production.”
Estimate £6000-8000.
lyonandturnbull.com or see this item on thesaleroom.com
One of the original five prototype Jaguar ‘The Leaper’ car mascots as modelled by F Gordon Crosby, and cast by Ercole Palanti, c.1930s - estimate £5000-10,000 at East Bristol Auctions on April 30.
One of the original five prototype Jaguar ‘The Leaper’ car mascots as modelled by F Gordon Crosby, and cast by Ercole Palanti, c.1930s, is guided at £5000-10,000 at East Bristol Auctions on April 30.
Of bronze construction, measuring 8in (20cm) nose to tail, it features a leaping Jaguar seen for the first time in the now famous form. It is marked with impressed EP to rear.
The saleroom says this was the actual mascot that was then accepted by William ‘Bill’ Lyons after his “it looks like a cat shot off a fence” remark about an earlier mascot made by Desmo, and all future Jaguar mascots were based on this design.
Lyons gave this mascot to the vendor’s father, who then gave it to his son (the vendor) for his 21st birthday some years later.
eastbristol.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
Portrait of a Boy and Whippet by Sir Godfrey Kneller and studio - estimate £4000-6000 at Olympia Auctions on May 6.
The British and Continental Pictures and Prints sale at Olympia Auctions on May 6 is the first of the series that will include consignments for the saleroom’s partnership with the Wallace Collection, Westminster Abbey and The Grange Festival fundraising initiative. A percentage from the sales will be donated the west London auction house to the above institutions.
Shown here is a painting which has been consigned for the initiative. Portrait of a Boy and Whippet by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723) and studio is an oil on canvas, 2ft 7in x 2ft 1in (77.5 x 64cm), estimated at £4000-6000.
olympiaauctions.com or see this item on thesaleroom.com
Wicker and steel Cobra floor lamp made by British designer Tom Dixon – estimate £1000-1500 at Henry Adams on April 29.
This wicker and steel Cobra floor lamp was made c.1993 by British designer Tom Dixon (b.1959) and was purchased by the owner at an exhibition held at the time above a London hairdressers.
Dixon rose to prominence in the 1980s as a maker of welded salvage furniture and founder of the creative think-tank Space before later working for the Italian giant Cappellini and as creative director for Habitat.
At Henry Adams in Chichester on April 29 this relatively early work is guided at £1000-1500.
henryadamsfineart.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
‘Macrogauze’ wall hanging by the artist-weaver Peter Collingwood – estimate £1500-2000 at Adam Partridge in Macclesfield on April 30.
This linen thread and steel rods ‘macrogauze’ wall hanging by the artist-weaver Peter Collingwood (1922-2008) comes for sale at Adam Partridge in Macclesfield as part of a sale of Studio Ceramics & Modern Design on April 30.
The hanging, which measures 3ft 10in (1.15m), is signed and stamped on a metal tag M.143 No.52. Estimate £1500-2000.
adampartridge.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
Clarice Cliff Bizarre Fantasque honeyglaze cube inkwell and cover decorated in the Fruitburst pattern - estimate £80-120 in the Ryedale Auctioneers on May 1.
This Clarice Cliff Bizarre Fantasque honeyglaze cube inkwell and cover is decorated in the Fruitburst pattern. It is estimated at £80-120 in the Ryedale Auctioneers sale in Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, on May 1.
ryedaleauctioneers.com or see this item on thesaleroom.com
A 19th century wedding costume - estimate £300-500 at Tennants on May 7.
The Costume, Accessories and Textiles Sale at Tennants on May 7 includes the private collection of a Suffolk Family, comprising 26 lots that belonged to numerous ancestors in the vendor’s family, dating from the early 19th century to early 20th century.
Many items belonged to a Mr Calvert, who lived in a timbered manor house and was affectionately known as ‘a wonderfully eccentric gentleman’. He never married but travelled to India and Europe, and extensively in Egypt with H Rider Haggard, who wrote King Solomon’s Mines. Indeed, Rider Haggard’s name is written in the back of an 18th century style pink silk waistcoat in the collection.
The vendor’s well-travelled family even reached Australia and China; their travels represented by textiles now up for auction.
Since the 1980s, the textiles have been stored in trunks in a barn on the vendor’s farm, each item wrapped carefully in tissue paper.
Shown here is a 19th century wedding costume made from silk brocade woven with lily of the valley, green silk trim and lace with matching brocade shoes. The costume bears a label for Colley with a Royal Warrant and is offered with an estimate of £300-500.
tennants.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
Oak sideboard designed by Sir Frank Brangwyn in 1926 - estimate £6000-10,000 at Sworders on May 4-5.
The design sale at Sworders on May 4-5 includes a group of Arts & Crafts items from the estate of the design writer and biographer Fiona MacCarthy (1940-2020).
Married to the Sheffield-based silversmith and designer David Mellor (1930-2009) whom she met when conducting an interview in 1967, MacCarthy’s background as a journalist for the House and Garden and the Guardian lay the foundations for seminal works on CR Ashbee, the Omega Workshops, William Morris, Eric Gill and Stanley Spencer. Her final book, Walter Gropius: Visionary Founder of the Bauhaus, was published in 2019.
MacCarthy and Mellor’s love of the Arts & Crafts movement is evident in the 16 lots at Sworders. This oak sideboard designed by Sir Frank Brangwyn in 1926, estimated at £6000-10,000, was purchased from Sotheby’s Belgravia in 1976.
sworder.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
Pair of early 18th century Dutch Delft polychrome decorated covered baluster vases – estimate £1000-1500 at Stroud Auctions on May 5-7.
This pair of early 18th century Dutch Delft polychrome decorated covered baluster vases retain old Christie’s labels for the sale at The Manor House, Ashby St Ledger, in 1988.
The 16in (39cm) vases come for sale at Stroud Auctions on May 5-7 guided at £1000-1500.
stroudauctions.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
A 2000-year-old late Iron Age horse harness mount - estimate £1000-2000 in Hansons’ May 20-21 auction.
This 2000-year-old late Iron Age horse harness mount features an engraved curvelinear design inlaid with red champleve enamel and blue glass, a distinctive style that originates from south-east England. The British Museum has a similar example from London.
The harness mount is estimated at £1000-2000 in Hansons’ May 20-21 Historica Auction in Etwall, Derbyshire.
The vendor said he bought it “at a car boot sale in Middlesex about two years ago, maybe longer. I can’t remember exactly. It was in a general box of old coins and bits of metal that I paid around £10 for.”
Bernard Leach St Ives studio pottery cut sided bottle vase - estimate £400-600 at Rendells on April 29-30.
On April 29-30 Rendells in Ashburton, Devon, is offering a wide-ranging selection of studio pottery, art pottery and West Country pottery from a single-owner collection.
It includes pieces by Bernard, Janet, David and Jeremy Leach, Michael Cardew, John Maltby, Charles Vyse, Ian Auld, Alan Wallwork, Ray Finch and Waistel Cooper, along with art pottery from the Elton Sunflower Pottery of Clevedon and Torquay and other West Country wares, such as Candy, Bovey Pottery and Devonmoor.
Shown here is a Bernard Leach St Ives studio pottery cut sided bottle vase with comb decoration and tenmoku glaze and seal mark to the base.
Estimate £400-600.
rendells.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
