It was briefly catalogued as a Newman & Sinclair Auto Kine 35mm cine camera, serial number 383, with a duraluminium body and offered with an accessory box. However, it was the mention of its rare Ross Xpres F.1.9 lens (No136703), which turned buyers’ heads and drove the bidding up to more than 26 times the lot’s high estimate.
After nearly two minutes of bidding from the room, internet and phone, it was hammered down to a continental buyer.
The auction house’s Greg Bateman called the result “spectacular”.
These coveted cine lenses produce a distinctive background blur beyond a sharply focused central point.
Local Apollo
Another star lot at the sale, which took place on August 4, was a sculpture of Apollo by British artist James Davis.
Carved in the 1970s as a private commission, it was made of Lepine stone from the Cauvigny region of France. The commission took almost two years, much of it documented with the assortment of letters, receipts, photographs and drawings which were offered alongside the work.
Vendors of the statue, which measures 5ft 7in (1.72m) high, were the local couple who commissioned it. It was one of a number of items they consigned to Batemans, many of which were garden ornaments, as they moved out of their home of 40 years.
It was bought for £3600 by another local who is having it installed in their home.
