Rich pickings as Dorset's quality vendors include Australians now

How much encouragement this will be to other auctioneers is debatable. Not only is there old money in Dorset to supply items but Hardy's once-remote county is now a fashionable target for wealthy Londoners moving to the country and providing a pool of buyers.

All this and more – a consignment of market-fresh quality pieces from Australia from an old client who once did his buying at the Dorchester rooms – just about guaranteed a successful sale.

It was the Australian items, all attracting the extra five per cent VAT that Brussels imposes on non-EU imports, that were the major draw for the London silver trade.

Silver generally looked quite buoyant – for instance a pair of 12in (30cm) Victorian neo-classical candlesticks with two en-suite plated examples took a private bid of £1400 – but the main attraction was an Australian-entered pair of silver gilt wine coasters by JW Storey & Elliot, London 1809. The 7 1/2in (18.5cm) coasters with pierced grape cluster and vine leaf borders engraved with an armorial went to the London trade within estimate at £8700.

Generally, estimates for the Australian entries were low. "If you’re sending pieces halfway round the world you do want them to sell," said Dr Denney. However, the unpublished £5000-8000 estimate on a 13 1/2in (34cm) wide 43oz cake basket by John Hamilton proved too punchy, although it did sell to the London trade afterwards.

Elsewhere, a bulky lot of some 140 pieces of crested cutlery, about 366oz, mostly by William Eley, William Fearn and William Chawnor, London 1810, sold to the trade at a mid-estimate £4400, but a major surprise was another flatware lot. This comprised one London 1711 Old English pattern rat tail basting spoon 16 1/2in (42cm) with an engraved monogram offered with a similar spoon with engraved crest with rubbed marks, but probably early 18th century.

Dr Denney conceded that the £200-400 estimate was overly conservative and bidders certainly thought so: the spoons took £2700 from the trade.

Novelty pieces, one of the few survivors of the silver slump, continue to do well and a lot from a local clearance, catalogued here as a pair of Victorian desk stands with pounce pots sold well. Measuring 5 1/2in (14cm) wide, the stands comprised corpulent gentlemen on rectangular boxes with twin hinged lids. Their original function was something of a mystery and the illustrated items carried no estimate. The room gave them a good value though – £2600 to the London trade.

Smaller items included an 1829 French gold box and a Russian silver gilt box. The 3 1/2 by 2in (8 x 5cm) French work, with chased foliate decoration and an engraved effusive encomium from the British residents of Caen to the British consul there, went just below estimate at £1800.

By contrast the 4in (10cm) diameter Moscow box, commemorating the accession to the throne of Catherine the Great in 1762, showing the Empress in profile to the top and a trophy of arms to the base, went way over hopes. The box, decorated with applied beadwork was estimated at £300-500 but sold at £1850.

A couple of jewellery lots also eclipsed estimates, but catalogue colour illustrations suggested they might do well and both, as Dr Denney said, had the attraction of being "very wearable". One, a Victorian diamond and 'moonstone' brooch designed as four cherub faces, sold at £4200 against a £400-700 estimate. The other, a very pretty Art Deco emerald and diamond brooch brought £400 against a top estimate of £2500. Both went to the London trade.

Estimates were also far exceeded among the horology, although the Australian-entered barometers were deliberately pitched low to sell. An early Victorian mahogany 3ft (91cm) stick example by Dolland of London made £3200 (est. £1500-2500) and an early 19th century marine stick barometer with spiral-turned mahogany frame supported on a brass gimbal took £3800 (est. £1000-2000).

The biggest apparent surprise among the horology was the reaction to a George III longcase clock movement and dial in a later 6ft 8 1/2in (2.04m) oak case. For a marriage, the estimate of £400-700 didn’t seem overly conservative, but the fact that the eight-day five-pillar movement was signed Tho.Bastard of Blandford made all the difference. The maker is a great Dorset favourite and with nothing by him having come onto the market for some time, it was not such a shock when a collector, who will throw away the case, went to £3000 to secure it.

Among the 20 four-figure results among the furniture proper a couple of talking points were the 'Max-Man' upright piano and the set of eight George I-style walnut dining chairs.

Upright pianos are not exactly in demand. Dr Denney was pleased to get a tenner for one at a recent general sale but his PhD thesis having been on Arts and Crafts he quickly put a £1000-2000 estimate on this example of designer Brillie Scott’s work. With a movement by Broadwood, an oak case looking rather like an armoire with its folding doors with polished metal strap hinges, the piano more than justified his faith selling at £3200.

The dining chairs, beautifully made and stamped Wynne & Sons, Manchester, 1926 provided another example of how quality repro from between the wars will sell when they were taken above estimate at £3700 fom a private bidder.

However, everything was eclipsed by the last lot of the day – the 7ft 3in (2.20m) wide George III oak Yorkshire dresser illustrated above. The shelves to the delft rack were probably associated and prices for dressers seem to have plateaued of late, hence the £4000-6000 estimate.

However, Dr Denney pointed to the beautiful colour and condition of the base and this was just the sort of piece the aforementioned Londoners want for all the extra space they have acquired. A private buyer finally won it at £12,000.