Illustrated on the back of the catalogue was a carved wooden ship’s figurehead of a woman with a wreath of laurel in her hair. Standing 4ft 6in (1.37m) high, the ornament was consigned to the Bristol rooms from a private source and attracted interest from the London and American dealers in decorative and nautical antiques, with the London trade bidding the winning sum of £1900.
Principle horological entry was a 19th century eight-day longcase clock in a typical mahogany inlaid case with three brass ball finials to the wave crest and a 13in (33cm) white dial depicting a painted castle, bridges and landscape. Inscribed E.Fear, Bristol Bridge, Bristol, the 7ft 7in (2.31m) high clock went to a private buyer at £2300.
The most notable entry among the silver, where 98 per cent of lots sold, was an Edwardian cigar box featuring a central raised ornamental panel surrounded by chased strapwork borders and a gilt
interior. Assayed in London in 1907,
measuring 9in (23cm) wide and weighing 59oz, the box sold at £1650.
The penultimate lot in this section was a modern pair of Victorian-style figural salts. Modelled as a boy and girl holding baskets in country attire and bearing an assay mark for London 1977, the baskets took £1020 from a silver dealer in the room.
Private buys among the furniture included a Regency twin-pedestal sideboard and a Victorian mahogany extending dining table.
The 5ft 5in (1.65m) wide sideboard with a scroll-end back rail with drop centre flanked by pedestals attracted £1850. The table which with its three extra leaves extended to 7ft 9in (2.36m) long went within estimate at £1780.
Bristol Auction Rooms, Clifton, April 13
Buyer’s premium: 10 per cent
A decorative attraction is shipshape and Bristol fashion
UK: ALTHOUGH there were no real star entries at this monthly dispersal, around 727 lots managed to generate a total at £120,00 boosted by a silver section and some pieces of local interest.
