Sworders

Items from the homes of MJ Long (1939-2018) and Colin ‘Sandy’ St John Wilson (1922-2007), the husband and wife team that designed the British Library, come for sale at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet later this month.

The English artist and poster designer Alfred Thomson (1894-1979) painted this eye-catching depiction of the famous penguin pool at London Zoo.

Provincial by geography but far from provincial in outlook, auction houses from Essex to the Yorkshire Dales underlined the international nature of their trade at recent auctions. Cosmopolitanism covered both what was on offer and who was buying.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a Herbert Thomas Dicksee polar bear print.

A pair of engravings after Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525-69) sold for more than six-times estimate at auction in Essex.

This rare piece of Cork silver of Irish Republican interest sold for £4000 (plus 23% premium) at Sworders latest sale.

HRH Princess Anne visited auction house Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet to mark the start of a campaign to raise funds for a local charity that is building a specialist autism service in Essex.

A welcome trend in the jewellery market has been the resurgence of the brooch. In October, when Baroness Brenda Hales gave her verdict on Boris Johnson’s ‘illegal’ prorogation of Parliament, what many social media users really wanted to know was ‘where did she get that spider brooch?’

Morris record takes the headlines but his pupil is also in demand at same sale.

Ceramics, furniture, glass and figure highlights from a range of sales under same banner.

The year after Cedric Morris painted his verdant Foxgloves in 1932, a severe drought cut through much of southern Britain. The parched soil and the hardship it brought were a source of artistic inspiration for those who painted the form and the character of the rural landscape.

London art dealer Philip Mould was the successful bidder for three works by Cedric Morris (1889-1982) sold in Essex last week. One set a new auction record for the artist plantsman.

Stansted Mountfitchet auction house Sworders is growing its sales programme and headcount with an increased focus on London.