Large mid-17th century brass candlestick, £9800 at Bishop & Miller.
The entire first day was given over to 260 lots of early metalwares.
Just over 100 of these came from two noted collections: 20 lots from that of the late Christopher Bangs - a well-known specialist dealer and author in this subject - and an 89-lot third instalment of pewter from the collection of the late Tony Chapman.
This is a specialist field where dealers and collectors look for particular pieces or seek to fill a gap in a collection so the response was selective. Also, a lot of Chapman material had already been offered in April and October 2023 and one more selection is to come in June. (Bishop & Miller also sold metalware from Bangs in September 2022. See ATG No 2564).
Despite a fair number of unsold lots there were still some sizeable prices. The three top sums were paid out for English brass candlesticks from the small Bangs consignment.
A particularly large mid-17th century specimen of c.1650, 13in (33cm) in height, featured a large circular base and dished drip pan (see picture above). It had formerly been part of the Syd Levethan collection and sold by Christie’s in June 2010 for £8000. Here it made £9800 against a £7000-10,000 guide.
Tudor paten chalice shaped brass stick, £9000 at Bishop & Miller.
Another was a rare and early Tudor English brass candlestick of so-called Chalice Paten form, c.1550, standing just over 11in (27.5cm) high from the top of its flared socket to the bottom of the two stage skirt base. This realised £9000 against a £5000-8000 guide.
There were comparable examples in the Lear Collection which Bangs had helped to assemble for the collector Bud Lear.
A 17th century trumpet base stick, £8000 at Bishop & Miller.
A third was a 9in (21cm) high trumpet base stick dated to c.1650-80 that took £8000 against a £4000-6000 guide. This had formerly been part of the Lear Collection, was sold at Christie’s in 1998 before entering the Vogel collection and sold again at Sotheby’s New York in 2019.
Two rare pewter candlesticks from the Chapman ensemble were also up among the top lots.
A 5in (14cm) high Charles II era, c.1660, trumpet base specimen with convex circular drip tray and large circular foot sold at £7400 and a 6in (15cm) William and Mary era, c.1690, ball knop and gadroon decorated candlestick made £7000.
Strong performers
Two pieces of early oak were among the stronger performers on the second day when the furniture and works of art were offered.
Medieval oak bench, £3600 at Bishop & Miller.
A 4ft 11in (1.5m) slab ended Medieval oak bench with a c.14th century dating had come from the collection of Mike Handford and was reputed to have come from Beauchief Abbey, South Yorkshire, which was dissolved during the Reformation in the 1530s. Estimated at £1500-2000, it took £3600.
Elizabeth oak ark of c.1590, £4000 at Bishop & Miller.
An Elizabeth I era ark-shaped coffer of relatively small proportions measuring 2ft 6in (75.5cm) wide was fitted with a three-board domed lid and pivotally hinged through the top of the rear stiles. It sold for £4000 against a guide of £2000-3000.
