Thomson Roddick Scottish Auctions

The ideas of ‘liberty’ as a cause and a concept were not confined to the coffee shops of Boston and Philadelphia.

Two Scottish auction houses have merged to form a new operation: Thomson Roddick Callan.

In May 1930 Amy Johnson (1903-41) set off in a De Havilland Gipsy Moth called Jason to become the first woman to fly solo from Great Britain to Australia. The feat, followed by further long-distance solo and combined flights, earnt her place in aviation history.

Leading the sale held by Thomson Roddick (18% buyer’s premium) in Rosewell, Edinburgh, was a 7in (18cm) high Qing iron red bottle decorated with chilong dragons amid stylised clouds. It had apparently been rejected by ‘a more prestigious auctioneer’.

Based on a slightly earlier American original called The Landlords Game, this example of Brer Fox an’ Brer Rabbit dates to 1913.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the football league in Scotland has not always been dominated by Celtic and Rangers. The last time a team outside the Old Firm won the title was Aberdeen in 1985.

Rare as Forres silver is, three pieces by the Highland town’s smiths John and Patrick Riach were on offer at Edinburgh auction house Thomson Roddick (17.5% buyer’s premium) on October 11 – the fiddle pattern dessert spoon, below, and two characteristic Scottish toddy labels.

Three modestly valued works in regional sales, all sold below £1000 including a watercolour of a North African market scene by Hercules Brabazon Brabazon.

UK dealers buying foreign silver, overseas bidders taking British work and generally solid interest for traditional pieces of mid-ranking silver brightened up the normally quieter late summer sales across the country.

This watercolour, below, by Frederic Whiting (1874-1962) took a multi-estimate £2500 at Thomson Roddick’s (15% buyer’s premium) Edinburgh saleroom on August 9.

One says Scottish rather than Scotch except when one is referring to the spirit – or indeed, motor spirit as evident at the Edinburgh rooms of Thomson Roddick Scottish Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium).

Thomson Roddick has been running auctions across Scotland for more than 130 years but is now planning to expand its operations in the Borders.

Sold for £560 by Thomson Roddick (17.5% buyer’s premium) on September 6 was a watercolour by Ella Du Cane (1874-1943).

Enhancing a growing reputation at Edinburgh auction house Thomson Roddick (17.5% buyer’s premium) for optical instruments, a recent sale included 18 lots of binoculars and the like.

A raft of contemporary and post-war art featured in the busy August schedule in Scotland. Such art remains a picky and tempestuous market north of the border. The latest results were scattered with a mix of bullish and more subdued results.