Mellors & Kirk

Nottingham sale showcases wares of ‘the most complete manufacturer in England in metal’

Early works by Harold Knight (1874-1961) are not seen very often at auction but a group of six appeared at Mellors & Kirk of Nottingham at the end of last year.

Of such high quality that they justify the description ‘cabinet miniatures’, examples of a small group of silk and metal thread embroideries of Charles I can be seen in the V&A and Wallace Collection in London and in the New York Met.

The near ubiquitous ‘Dead Man’s Penny’ of the First World War becomes a rarity should the recipient be female.

This Victorian silver and enamel cigarette box is decorated to the lid with humorous scene from John Surtees’ Jorrocks, Jaunts and Jollities.

The unusual Chinese porcelain model (pictured below) forms the shape of a lingzhi stem vividly enamelled with a blend of green, blue and pink glazes. It measures 9in (23cm) high and carries a Qianlong (1736-95) mark.

An 1859 first of Darwin’s seminal work shrugs off condition issues to be a best-seller

In family ownership for several generations, this 27oz Charles II sugar box was described by Nottingham auction house Mellors & Kirk (24% buyer’s premium) as “in an exceptional state of preservation, with hardly any sign of wear and no damage or repair worthy of note”.

Nestlé, today a Swiss multinational corporation, was a much smaller company when this rare lithographed showcard was made.

Shortly before the UK lockdown, Cumbrian saleroom Thomson Roddick (17.5% buyer’s premium inc VAT) offered works from the collection of The Shorthorn Society, a body that promotes the famous breed of cattle in the UK and Ireland.

Sir Oswald Birley (1880-1952) is among the artists most represented in UK public collections. Art UK records 173 works in national museums and institutions, National Trust properties and local museums.

The three magazines shown here were all produced by students of the Royal College of Art in the years 1925-27 and sold online for £1000 in a sale at Mellors & Kirk (24% buyer’s premium) of Nottingham.

A rare creamware transfer printed and painted beaker offered for sale by Mellors & Kirk (20% buyer’s premium) in Nottingham told a dark tale.

The London entrepreneur James Cox (c.1723-1800) is best known as a specialist in the intricate clockwork curios encrusted with gold, silver and jewel, referred to as ‘sing-songs.’

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including an Eric Ravilious print.

Rarely seen in public before, this signed 18in x 2ft (45 x 65cm) gouache is one of the earliest works by the British Modernist painter John Armstrong (1893-1973).

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a William Henry Hunt self-portrait.

This Victorian mother-of-pearl and abalone shell card case is carved with a portrait of George Lord Byron, the most flamboyant and notorious of the major English Romantic poets.

American naval expertise and gallantry came as a big shock to the British, who had become used to the Royal Navy ruling the waves.