Silver is the star on a day of Deco

BONHAMS Chester hosted a 484-lot collectable ceramics and applied arts sale on April 27.

Entries to find favour included Art Deco bronzes by major makers such as Lorenzl and unusual ceramics by Susie Cooper and the Beswick pottery, while buyers were found for all bar one of what was a fairly routine 11-lot Liberty section.

However, the most expensive entry was a 1938 canteen by London maker R.E. Store consigned by a local private vendor. Store was not a prolific silversmith and this fairly comprehensive and stylish Deco canteen for 12 settings sold at £8000.

The foremost bronze was a signed silvered slip of a dancing girl dating to c.1925 with a floral painted skirt on a green marble base by Joseph Lorenzl. Standing 7in (18cm) high, she fetched £2500.

The buoyant collectors market for Beswick farmyard ceramic animals has been frequently commented upon in these pages in recent months, so the £1000 tendered by a dealer to secure a cattle group comprising an Ayreshire Cow and Bull, models 1374 and 1354, unusually set on an L-shaped plinth, did not come as a great surprise to the auction house.

A small quantity of these mounted groups were commissioned by the publication Dairy Farmer and the inscription on the metal plaque on this example (with slight restoration) revealed it had been presented to the Denbighshire Young Farmers Association in 1963.

Elsewhere, a very healthy bid came on a Susie Cooper geometric part teaset.

Although it lacked a teapot, this was an early example of the potter's work and was painted and not printed. Its quality and restrained but brightly coloured decoration of discs and zigzags attracted several interested parties. It sold to a dealer at £3300.

The buyer's premium was 17.5/10%