Clocks, Watches & Jewellery

The coloured stones market remains strong, so Skinner can expect strong international competition for an antique sapphire pendant brooch (below) in Boston on September 19.

The first major fairs of the new season are only just around the corner. The LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair at Berkeley Square is always strong on antique jewellery, this year (September 15-20) attracting more than a dozen specialist dealers from both London and overseas.

Something shocking happened on Jermyn Street in 1966. Among the more conservative of London shopping districts – the place for a badger-hair shaving brush or a decent pair of sheepskin slippers – at a stroke it became cool. The charismatic Italian émigré Andrew Grima (1921-2007) had opened a jewellery emporium.

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

A 19th century topaz pendant with cushion-shaped diamond accents raced to £9000 at Mallams’ Silver & Jewellery sale in Oxford on August 23.

The sale at Fellows (23/15% buyer’s premium) in Birmingham on July 31 included this Arts & Crafts pendant designed by Charles Robert Ashbee (1862-1942).

A 1920s-30s 18ct gold Cartier cigarette lighter-cum-watch with black enamel dial was offered at Boningtons (17.5% buyer’s premium) at Epping on August 21.

A sapphire and diamond coronet designed by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria in 1840 has been ’saved for the nation’ after its purchase for the London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

A horological story rarely makes the national news, but the announcement that Big Ben is falling silent until 2021 as major conservation work begins rang loud and clear in headlines.

Seven phone bidders competed for this 15th century gold heart-shaped brooch, a medieval gift of love from the time of the Wars of the Roses, at Hansons in Derbyshire.

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

Thieves in Chipping Campden have struck at the core of the Court Barn Museum’s collection of Arts & Crafts silver and jewellery.

Possibly made for a member of the French monarchy, this post-medieval gold ring combines the heraldic fleur-de-lis motif with blue kite-shaped sapphires.

What is selling well in the clocks and watches world? Dealer Warren Wilkinson, who has been collecting and repairing clocks and watches for 40 years and who is a regular standholder at Love Fairs events, is a good man to answer that very question.

In our continuing series looking through the keyhole of ‘bricks and mortar’ shops, ATG talks to Mark Coxhead. He works at Gutlin Clocks, a 22-year-old father and son family business specialising in buying, selling and repairing antique clocks.