Cheffins

British art historian Frances Spalding on how a post-war buying spree by councils aimed to bring the latest works to the classrooms.

Once enthusiastic buyers on the art market, today’s cash-strapped councils have taken on the role of vendor, pushed in an age of austerity to sell their collections and other assets to balance the books.

Two versions of Edward Bawden’s (1903-89) famous 'Brighton Pier' linocut came up at UK auctions within a day of each other.

Hiring a professional eye to present furniture and objects has become almost commonplace in the big London houses.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales under £1300, including an Albert Goodwin view of Whitby.

Prices high despite lack of good-quality stock as buyers aim for top standards.

A surrealist work by John Tunnard (1900-71) led a sale of 20th century British pictures from Hertfordshire County Council’s collection at Cheffins on March 21.

The ice pick carried by geologist Frank Debenham (1883-1965) during the doomed Terra Nova British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-13 sold for £22,000 (plus buyer’s premium) at Cheffins earlier this month. The estimate was just £200-400.

A 16 x 15in (42 x 38cm) linocut by Great Bardfield artist Sheila Robinson (1925-88) more than doubled its estimate to sell for £1000 at Cheffins (22.5% buyer’s premium) of Cambridge.

An impressive collection of 20th century British pictures will be offered at Cheffins in Cambridge on March 21 after Hertfordshire County Council took the decision to offload them.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales below £900, including a David Bates view of the Wye.

Dated London 1679 in a Cheffins (22.5% buyer’s premium) sale of January 10 was a job lot that included four unframed Hogarth prints, a framed royal proclamation of 1800 relating to the production of grain and a “1679 broadside, printed for T.N. that is headed A List of the Parliament of Women”.

A letter of 1803 in which George III, writing to Lord Hawkesbury, effectively declares his intention to renew war on France, was at £9000 one of the more successful lots in a recent Cambridge sale that produced its fair share of surprise results.