Sometimes auction results leave you a little shell-shocked, shaken and stirred – especially when you’re the man wielding the gavel in the first sale of 2023, writes Charles Hanson.
January’s Fine Art Auction delivered one of those nail-biting, stomach-churning, exciting results that stop you in your tracks. I often talk about the romance and drama of the saleroom. This was it!
Picture the scene. Interest has been pouring in for days for one particular lot. Practically every member of staff at our Derbyshire saleroom is on standby, mobile in hand, to liaise with 11 phone bidders. Yet more potential buyers all over the world are tuning in online, finger on the bidding button ready to join the battle.
I take to the stand, gavel in hand, like a conductor ready to lead an orchestra. I have two computer screens to monitor and all those phone bidders to watch. I can’t afford to miss a beat – or a bid.
The object of their desire? A 17th century Ming Dynasty gilt bronze figure of Wudi, a Chinese emperor. The battle commences. Five minutes feel like an eternity, such is the intensity.
But what a thrill when the bids rise up – culminating in a colossal £68,000. A round of spontaneous applause bursts out across the saleroom. Smiles and looks of amazement abound. Pre-auction, my humble hope was that the item would top £1,000.
The bronze was one of 30 items in a collection of Chinese antiques gathered by a British rail engineer. He helped to build railways in China in the early 1900s and, while there, gathered items to decorate his home.
It’s often hard to predict results but one thing I know for sure is that global buyers with deep pockets tune into every sale. And if you have something to sell there is every chance it may achieve more than you dreamed of.
Hammer prices as phenomenal as this don’t appear in every sale but we always see numerous estimates smashed, and many items comfortably meeting estimates. That first Fine Art sale of 2023 was no exception.
Take clocks. Thanks to two exceptional single-owner collections, one gathered by the late David Bradnock, an eminent horologist and clock consultant from Birmingham, we offered a plethora of riches.
We had high hopes for lot 24, an exceptionally fine, engraved James McCabe London twin fusée carriage clock. It sold for £10,000. Belfast-born James McCabe came to London in the 1770s, settling at Royal Exchange in 1804. He was succeeded by his son, also James, who is regarded as one of the finest English clock and watchmakers of the 19th century.
Other star items included lot 19, a good Drocourt French carriage clock with alarm on repeat with case. It achieved £2,800 from a low estimates of £1,000.
A lovely novelty item was lot 28 excel, a good French miniature automata singing bird in a cage with original case. It flew to £4,200 from a £900-£1,200 guide.
More practical but still attractive and beautifully crafted was lot 25, a small mid-Victorian marine chronometer by Litherland Davies & Co Liverpool, a firm with history reaching back to the early 1800s.
We saw art flourish too. Lot 425, an oil painting entitled Informalities by renowned equestrian artist Daniel Crane, achieved £16,000. And a cigar given as a gift to an RAF doctor by Sir Winston Churchill in 1962 achieved a smoking-hot result of £5,200 from an estimate of £2,000-£3,000.
But you don’t have to own a rare painting, Chinese treasure or antique clock to achieve a return at auction. Jewellery is a surefire success story and several lots achieved strong prices.
The most exceptional result in terms of smashing estimates came courtesy of lot 156, a pair of French Art Deco lapis lazuli and jade 18ct white gold cufflinks They soared to £2,500 from a guide price of £200-£300.
Then there was lot 144, an Edwardian amethyst and diamond suffragette-interest pendant/brooch. This beauty featured a large oval mixed cut amethyst boasting 37.89 carats, plus diamonds and green garnets. It topped £2,200 which was no surprise given its provenance.
It was gifted to the current vendor by a descendant of Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), the English political activist who organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women gain the right to vote.
These are the kind of results that delight clients and why I always tell everyone to look around their home, under the bed, in attics and through drawers.
Sometimes the smallest gem hidden away in a jewellery box can create a wonderful surprise.
To book a free jewellery valuation, email Helen Smith: [email protected].
Upcoming valuation events at Hansons, Heage Lane, Etwall, Derbyshire, include books, manuscripts and maps on January 18; Textiles, costume fashion/firearms and weapons on January 20.
To book these or any type of valuation email [email protected] or call 01283 733988.
