South-east England

In our continuing series looking through the keyhole of ‘bricks and mortar’ shops and centres, ATG talks to John Howard of Antiques at Heritage in Oxfordshire.

An old photo of a former owner and a memorial inscription will seldom add commercial value to a Victorian locket. However, the example by the Phillips Brothers of Cockspur Street offered by Mallams (20% buyer’s premium) in Oxford on March 21 carried the inscription 'Julia Hay Norman, Died 3rd October 1873'.

An 18in (45cm) figure of Shiva Vinadhara c.12th century – £220,000.

If a 74% selling rate points to continued selectivity among furniture bidders, the hammer total of £534,000 achieved at Dreweatts’ (24% buyer’s premium) 275-lot Fine Furniture and Works of Art sale showed they also have money to spend – “a trend we’ve seen for a while now”, said auctioneer Ben Brown.

This 19th century French walnut chest of drawers, offered at Ewbank’s (22.5% buyer’s premium) Surrey rooms, sold at £5500.

Military badges offered at Bosleys provided a good snapshot of a niche collecting area.

Bought recently for just £70 in a job lot, this German military-issue Leitz lens below sold for £5500 in Special Auction Services (17.5 buyer’s premium) Photographica sale on March 13. The Hektor 13.5cm f/4.5 lens, offered with an estimate of £4000-6000, sold to the European trade.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

A rare Western Zhou bronze, taken when the Summer Palace was sacked by British troops in 1860, sold for £410,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) at the Canterbury Auction Galleries.

Even in the hugely popular world of SAS medal collecting, where extraordinary deeds and great stories are taken as read, every now and again a consignment will come along with that ‘wow’ factor.

Organiser of new Surrey event pleased at positive reaction and trader response.

David Harvey has been running WR Harvey & Co (Antiques) since he took it over from its founder, his father Walter. The business has had locations in London’s Chalk Farm and Old Bond Street. Specialising in English antique furniture, Harvey now works from a showroom in Witney, Oxfordshire and stands next at the CADA fair.

Despite visible condition issues, a pair of carved giltwood console tables, catalogued as c.1740 and later, sailed past modest expectations to bring £65,000 (plus 24% premium) at Dreweatts 1759 of Donnington Priory.

Henry Wynne (fl.1654-1709), master of the Clockmaker’s Company, produced the finest and largest double-horizontal sundials of the Restoration period.

Made by William Selwood (1607-53), one of London’s finest clockmakers before the ‘Golden Age’, this 16½in (42cm) mid-17th century brass lantern clock topped Ewbank’s (22.5% buyer’s premium) spring sale in Send.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.