1. Standing stylised figure
Dr Gerald (Gerry) Moore was a polymath who ran a medical empire, a safari park and motor museum, while also painting, sculpting and writing novels, children’s books and poetry. Born in 1926, he spent his life in London, Kent, Sussex and retired to Devon where he died in 2018 at the age of 91.
His collection of his own art and sculptures will be sold at Summers Place Auctions in Billingshurst, West Sussex, on May 18 (as well as some works by other artists and some garden statuary) and the remainder of his art collection will have its own timed auction at nearby saleroom Bellmans, in Wisborough Green, starting in early May until May 23. A collection of furniture and works of art from his Devon estate is included in Bellmans’ auction on May 26.
Moore moved to Devon and, after the death of his first wife Irene, sold the contents of Heathfield Park and its motor museum at Sotheby’s in 1993, with the BBC filming a documentary of the auction. Summers Place Auctions’ director James Rylands and Dendy Easton, former director of Sotheby’s Sussex and Antiques Roadshow expert, were both involved in the last sale.
Moore described his style as Expressive Experimentalism; he decided early on that he wanted to stay figurative and he deconstructed images in his own fashion.
He started a part-time course at the Bromley College of Art in 1950 and also exhibited, and sold, his first painting at the Whitechapel Gallery. Shows around the UK followed and highlights include his exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery in 1959 and a show with Hockney at the Heal’s Gallery in 1961, and several exhibitions in German galleries in the 1990s.
Among the highlights at Summers Place is this monumental standing stylised figure (above) by Moore in bronze, 10ft 7in (3.22m) high, estimated at £6000-10,000.
View or bid for this sculpture via thesaleroom.com.
2. Apostle spoon
Edward IV spoon from 1478 – estimate £2500-4000 at Lyon & Turnbull on May 18.
Gavin Campbell (1851-1922), the 7th Earl of Breadalbane, was a prominent society figure and Liberal politician in the Gladstone administration but is best known in collecting circles as the owner of a vast collection of silver.
Much was dispersed at sales in 1926 and 1935 but a handful of pieces were saved by the family including this very early English Apostle spoon dating from the reign of the War of the Roses era monarch Edward IV (1442-83).
Although earlier spoons have survived, this Edward IV example with a St Simon terminal documents an important moment in the history of British silver: it dates from 1478, the first year that a ‘date letter’ was used in the hallmarking system. It subsequently became a cornerstone of the oldest, continual and still virtually unchanged form of consumer protection in the world.
Despite the addition of a later gothic letter B and a coronet – probably added by the 7th Earl who had collector’s marks engraved to many of his holdings – it is guided at £2500-4000 when Lyon & Turnbull sells 43 lots of property from the Earls of Breadalbane & Holland on May 18. All were previously among the furnishings of Taymouth Castle.
View or bid for this this apostle spoon via thesaleroom.com.
3. Portrait miniature
Portrait miniature on ivory by George Engleheart signed and dated 1804, depicting The Hon Berkeley Paget – estimate £1000-1500 at Bishop & Miller on May 21.
This portrait miniature on ivory by George Engleheart (1750-1829), signed and dated 1804, depicts The Hon Berkeley Paget with fair, curly hair.
It was exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Engleheart exhibition held in 1929 and owned at that time by Mr Catesby Paget.
When Stowmarket firm Bishop & Miller sells the collection of Richard P Miller on May 21, it is expected to bring £1000-1500.
View or bid for this portrait miniature via thesaleroom.com.
4. Scottish football medal
Tom Robertson’s Scottish Football League Championship medal from 1896-97 season won by Hearts - estimate £5000-7000 at McTear’s on May 21.
A 9ct gold medal from the earliest days of Heart of Midlothian Football Club will be offered in the Sporting and Trophies Auction at McTear’s of Glasgow on May 21.
Tom Robertson’s Scottish Football League Championship Gold Medal from 1896-97 is being sold by a relative of the late player. On the final day of that season, Hearts clinched the title in resounding fashion, winning 5-0 against Clyde, with Robertson scoring four goals. It was won at a time when the Edinburgh side were riding high in Scottish football.
Robertson (1876-1941) moved to Liverpool in 1898 and helped the club secure their first league title in 1900-01. He would go on to represent Manchester United and Dundee in later years.
Estimate £5000-7000. View or bid for this football medal via thesaleroom.com.
5. Omar Ramsden dish
A silver centrepiece-dish by silversmith Omar Ramsden in the form of a stylised Tudor rose – estimate £5000-8000 at Tennants on May 22.
A silver centrepiece-dish by silversmith Omar Ramsden in the form of a stylised Tudor rose raised on ball and claw feet is estimated at £5000-8000 at Tennants of Leyburn on May 22.
It was made in London in 1930. Ramsden, who was born in Sheffield, is associated with some of the most imaginative silver produced in London in the early decades of the 20th century.
While entirely working in the Arts & Crafts tradition, he was inspired by traditional forms and motifs, reproducing them with his own unique interpretation. Among motifs that Ramsden was to revisit throughout his career was the Tudor rose, either faithfully depicted or stylised as in the present dish.
The dish is one of the larger examples of his Tudor rose pieces, and it Tennants says it seems likely that it was inspired by a smaller dish hallmarked for 1922. This smaller version was then reproduced in 1925, an example of which was presented to the Victoria and Albert Museum by Queen Mary.
View or bid for this Omar Ramsden dish via thesaleroom.com.
