Bunches of keys played a major role in the collection totalling £386,000, more than doubling the low estimate for the September 13 sale.
Among them was the trio of elaborately pierced and chiselled 17th-18th century examples illustrated above.
From left to right, a G.R.III monogrammed key, a 4½in (12cm) long key with monogram and coronet, and a probably French work with scrolling foliage round a monster’s heads, centred on a crest and surmounted by a coronet. Pitched at £1500-2000, the trio tripled the top estimate, selling to an American dealer at £6000.
Topping the day was a bunch of 15 keys to various London landmarks dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. One was stamped VR to one side and Green Park to the reverse, while others included ones marked for gates and doors at Syon House and Hyde Park and one more lowly, for the Farrier’s Poor Box 1731.
Pitched at £1000-1500, the keys sold to a British collector at £7500.
Elsewhere among the bronze pots, brass dog collars and iron rowel spurs, rarities included a 15th century copper alloy candlestick, 6¼in (16cm) on drum base, selling to a US collector at a mid-estimate £2500.
A group of seven Georgian rectangular steel hand warmers, 5 x 2½in (13 x 6cm), featured perforated grills and sliding doors to the compartments for hot ashes, variously decorated with wildfowlers, inn scenes and owner’s names. Against a £200-300 estimate they were another American trade buy at £4800.
