“I certainly saw a couple of things we sold turn up later at Olympia,” said Phillips’ specialist Patrick Toynbee.
Top lot in the £170,565 sale was a George II Irish giltwood mirror consigned from a deceased Dorset estate (the remainder of which was previously dispersed through Phillips, Bath) that sold on its upper estimate to the local trade at £5000.
Illustrated on the front cover, it was a decorative entry and a good size at 4ft 23/4in by 2ft 61/4in (1.29m x 77cm) and had its original gilding.
With central coronet cresting, leaf carved and C-scroll ornament above a later plate, it was carved with an egg-and-dart border and pierced acanthus apron.
Next up was a Regency mahogany metamorphic library chair with curved bar top-rail and scroll arms above a cane panel seat on moulded sabre legs. Restoration was not an issue for the dealer who secured it at £3200.
Furniture aside, the trade secured all the best entries, with a Minton majolica game pie dish, cover and liner, impressed Minton date code for 1867, selling at £4400 to a local dealer.
Of oval form, the cover was surmounted by a hunting dog asleep beside a gun, powder flask and game bag with the sides relief-moulded with a rabbit and a pheasant flanked by sprays of holly.
Although the cover was broken and rivetted and there were some chips to the rim, condition did not appear to be a significant deterrent.
An 18th century English delft wall pocket, probably Liverpool, of cornucopia shape with the label from the Warren collection, also exceeded expectations when it brought £1300 against a £300-500 estimate.
Private collections of pharmaceutical equipment, reference books and ceramics ensured proceedings got off to a good start. There was only one pharmaceutical casualty (three glass eye baths) in the 16 entries consigned from Sherborne. One of the highlights was a large earthenware jar for storing leeches.
Decorated with a blue and gilt floral spray enclosing a blue painted panel inscribed LEECHES, it came together with two similar jars inscribed TAMARIND and HONEY and brought a healthy £560.
More of a surprise was a Japanese Meiji Period (1868-1912) bronze model of a crane. Standing on its original wood base, this small but well cast decorative entry stood 11in (28cm) brought £1400 against a £250-350 guideline.
Phillips, Bath, May 21
Buyer’s premium: 15/10 per cent
The road from Bath to Olympia busy after May sale’s success
LIKE many other provincial auctioneers, the Bath operation of the Phillips empire – now the centre for collection points at Cardiff, Bristol and Sherborne, profited from the major fairs in June when their 332-lot sale on May 21 saw a take-up of 83 per cent and a predominance of trade buyers buying to sell on in London.
