George III blue john vase, £6500 at Kinghams.
The Buxton Museum confirmed that the vase was made with fluorspar mined in the late 18th century from the Winnats One vein in the Treak Cliff cavern – the preferred choice of Boulton who once tried to buy the mines to guarantee a good supply.
Combined with a typical base of black marble from Ashford and the skills of Richard Brown & Sons who did much of the marble work at Kedleston Hall, it is very much a Derbyshire piece.
Offered for sale in Moreton-in-Marsh by Kinghams (23% buyer’s premium) on March 10, it took £6500 (estimate £1500-2500).
Owen work
The spring offering in the Cotswolds was led by a collection of Royal Worcester wares including a group of gilt and reticulated pieces by George Owen.
Leading proceedings at £10,000 was a 4½in (11cm) spherical vase with loop handles and bracket feet (model 1257) from 1909 while a 7in (18cm) bottle vase and cover (model 151) with the date code for 1913 took £9000. Both pieces carried incised signatures for Owen.
