Latest News Articles by Terence Ryle
Star Wars so wrong it’s right to buy
16 September 2019Boosted by the ‘wrong therefore rare’ factor – so important in the world of collectables – a 1977 British quad film poster for the first Star Wars film took top billing in a 250-lot specialist sale at Ewbank’s (24% buyer’s premium).
Marcks and spender – carriage clock attracts buyers at Hampshire sale
16 September 2019Pitched at £500-800, this grand sonnerie carriage clock came with little information for bidders at Jacobs & Hunt’s (22% buyer’s premium) sale in Liss other than plentiful illustrations and the name C Marcks & Co, Bombay and Poona engraved to the silvered dial.
Turin toy keeps on trucking at Runcorn auction
16 September 2019A model example of trans-European trucking, this diecast van advertising a Swiss company was made in Italy and sold to a German buyer at the Runcorn rooms of British Toy Auctions (18% buyer’s premium).
Buyer has no fear of the unknown as pocket globe leads Exeter auction
16 September 2019A pocket globe with some areas still a mystery leads a maritime auction at Exeter saleroom Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.
Ivory nutcrackers could become a museum piece
16 September 2019Entered by a vendor who hated them, a pair of 6in (15.5cm) long 19th century nutcrackers reflected in their way two different aspects of auctioneering today: how smaller country firms see their future and what will happen to antique ivory items when most of the trade in them is banned.
Rare version of Windsor chair is a highlight of upbeat Shrewsbury summer sale
09 September 2019Early English oak and yew and ceramics from St Petersburg to Stoke-on-Trent were features of a 250-lot sale which left auctioneer Jeremy Lamond in a quietly upbeat mood after Halls’ (23% buyer’s premium) summer sale at Shrewsbury.
Jacobites retain their devoted following at annual auction
09 September 2019More reliable today than they ever were in their lifetime, the male line of the Stuarts attracted the familiar devoted following at the annual Scottish Silver & Applied Arts sale at Lyon & Turnbull (25% buyer’s premium).
Novelty poop deck pops up
09 September 2019Benefiting from the continuing fashion for late 19th century novelty mantel clocks, a gilt-brass and steel example by Guilmet made the running at Peter Wilson (22% buyer’s premium) of Nantwich.
Worcestershire couple make room for Meissen
02 September 2019A collection of Meissen figures, many by Johann Joachim Kaendler (1706-75) and his assistants, met keen interest at Adam Partridge’s (20% buyer’s premium) auction.
British livery boosts appeal of early German locomotive
26 August 2019The name Marklin always suggested an O gauge loco and tender offered at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) would find a buyer against a £200-300 estimate but there was a considerably greater head of steam when international collectors looked closer.
Fact and faction in Ireland
26 August 2019In stark contrast to the elegant dolls’ houses which took the higher bids at a recent auction (ATG No 2403), a shillelagh was evidence of violence and tragedy in 19th century Ireland.
Time travellers touch down in south London
26 August 2019Highlights at Roseberys (25% buyer’s premium) brought more than the usual sense of trans-centuries time travel experienced at such auctions of 500 disparate lots.
Two Chinese results underpinned by cautious cataloguing
26 August 2019Bowl and chicken cup impress in Suffolk and Berkshire salerooms.
Thin Man spotted in sizeable lot
19 August 2019In this group of predominantly Victorian ceramics beloware two 18th century pieces: a typical polychrome delft plate of modest value and a far more commercial early English toby jug.
The risqué side of Russia
19 August 2019Although catalogued as ‘Continental’, this mid-19th century porcelain figure of a seated semi-nude ballet dancer below carries impressed marks for the factory established by the English entrepreneur Francis Gardner in the town of Verbilki near Moscow in 1766.
Fashionable but fragile box just sew good
19 August 2019From the height of almost impractical luxury to a simple piece of homespun craftsmanship, the full creative range of sewing accessories was on offer at the summer sale of specialist auction house Bleasdales (20% buyer’s premium).
Buyer pins down Chinese workbox at £7000 hammer
19 August 2019The interior of this 15in (38cm) mid-19th century Chinese gilt and black lacquer workbox includes two layers of 15 small interlocking boxes. The central cruciform-shaped box has a pin cushion incorporated in the lid.
Wainscot chair with top quality
19 August 2019Better by a distance than nine similar items, a mid-17th century wainscot chair offered by Lawrences (25% buyer’s premium) in Crewkerne demonstrated the yawning price gap between the acceptable and the desirable in the early oak market.
Big money for Russian bronze
19 August 2019Not always predicted but overwhelming when it comes, big-money Russian interest sent a bronze equine group soaring at Dawson’s (23% buyer’s premium) in Maidenhead.
‘Thank heavens for the internet’
12 August 2019Catalogued together with an incomplete silver propelling pencil with a bloodstone terminal, a silver Art Deco pocket lighter with a timepiece sold at £5200 (estimate £100-200) at Amersham Auction Rooms (17.5% buyer’s premium) on July 11.