Auction Reports

Greywacke sculpture headlines a series of high-flying results including £66,000 double bass

Although catalogued by Smiths of Newent (20% buyer’s premium) as a chair from the early 19th century Empire period, this ebonised mahogany, gilt and polychrome side chair is more probably from the mid-Victorian period.

The recent release of 'The Electrical Life of Louis Wain' starring Benedict Cumberbatch provided a topical spin to this rare Amphora pottery model.

At the top end of the budget for ski poster enthusiasts are the Art Deco images promoting Gstaad.

Marked for Savage & Lyman, Montreal, c.1855-60, this silver tankard was awarded to British bare-knuckle boxer Tom Sayers.

A rare Royal Crown Derby teapot made to a design created by Salvador Dalí surfaced recently at Batemans (20% buyer’s premium) in Stamford.

A selection of these functional but fascinating objects that have appeared at recent sales

Estimated at just £60-100, a pair of Georgian portrait miniatures sold online for £2900 at Amersham Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium) on January 6.

Handed in by miners at the start of a shift in exchange for a Davy lamp, colliery tokens, tallies or checks provided vital information in the event of fire or explosion.

Grand Canal sketch has provenance to artist’s student who became a renowned collector

Christopher Dresser created a number of daring geometric designs for silver and silver-plated toast racks in the late 1870s and early 1880s, both for Hukin & Heath and for James Dixon & Son.

This late 19th century walking cane with sturdy ebonised shaft and silver-plated handle comes with a letter of provenance stating that it had been a gift from Irish revolutionary soldier and politician Michael Collins (1890-1922) to Patrick Baker, head barman at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin.

A 19th century sea otter amulet in walrus ivory and baleen fashioned as a mother and her pup sold for £24,000 at Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’s premium).

Appealing to a range of different types of collectors, Victorian and Edwardian animals pin cushions have their own niche in the novelty silver field.

Collections relating to leading British film director Lewis Gilbert (1920-2018) and his wife of 53 years Hylda (d.2005) provided very different lots for Billingshurst auction house Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium).

Still a figure of glamour 450 years after her execution, Mary Queen of Scots was reputed to have embroidered the c.16th century fragment of bed curtain sold at Hansons (25% buyer’s premium) at Etwall on December 7.

Rarely do 19th century Staffordshire figures feature among the top-selling lots at auction these days but two bare-fist boxing champions did just that.

In natural light this English ‘black glass’ onion form wine bottle appears distinctly blue.

The full fall-out from the record-breaking Dr John P Driscoll sale of British studio ceramics is yet to be understood.

Among the unexpected performers at the Prop Store’s (25% buyer’s premium) entertainment memorabilia sale was a single-sheet Star Wars poster.