Christmas underway at Hartleys

26th November 2025

It was a strange relief to hear the classic Christmas jingles on the radio a week before our November 26^th Winter Fine Sale, the sale that is the closest we in the auction world get to “Black Friday” and the inevitable rush of festive purchases. With a sale filled with silver, watches, jewellery and even Louis Vuitton bags, there was bound to be good competition for something under the tree.

The “Christmas sale” always holds a wonderful section of small silver and bijouterie, which with the limited size of each piece does not tend to hold the wow factor single prices of the “full sized” silver section, but has some of the most competitive bidding from those small cabinet collectors looking for a stocking filler. My favourite three lots from the section were a stunning quality Nathaniel Mills snuff box from 1840 that made £540, not bad for only a few ounces of silver, a great fun George VI playing card box that made £750 and an articulated fish, still “small silver” but huge for an item of its type that was hooked for £800. The full sized modern and antique silver followed this section, selling brilliantly with a very high success rate and 13 items making four figure sums. But the best of the bunch was found with a George III quadruple decanter stand by Daniel Pontifex that reached £1450, a Swedish silver part table service by Hoff that made £3400 and a wonderful Elizabeth II Sandringham pattern table service, in its canteen and mostly unused still in the original tissue paper, that made a brilliant £7500.

The coin section came soon after, with both antique silver examples and “modern” gold up for grabs. Since Covid swept our shores, I have been using the value of gold sovereigns as a talking point on house visits and over-counter valuations, this is set to continue as they seem to have hit an all new high, with some selling as high as £740 – prior to Covid they were closer to £250 each. Sticking with gold items, a set of gold replica Churchill stamps fetched £2450, two 1975 Krugerrands sold for £2600 each, and a boxed set of three 18ct Kennedy memorial medals made £3650. But of the antique silver coins the standout item was an 1847 Gothic crown, that made a whopping £2200; amazing when you consider the non-gothic examples only tend to make around £40 - 60.  

We then waited with bated breath for the start of the jewellery section, headed by a larger than normal offering of watches, both for the wrist and the pocket.  All the watches sold brilliantly, with the best being seen with a Victorian 18ct gold cased pocket watch by Waltham that fetched £2100 and an 18ct rose gold Patek Philippe Calatrava watch that made an amazing £4800. Within the jewellery there were plenty of good results, with lots of presents and possibly engagement rings under the gavel.  My personal picks of the section would be a classy emerald cut diamond ring with diamond shoulders that made £2900 and a stunning and ornate Indian 22ct gold filigree necklace delicately set with rubies and emeralds, that beat our estimate to make £3000.

The works of art section came with great gusto and an amazing array of items, as ever it held a few shock prices and an almost 100% sold rate. The favourites amongst the lots on offer were a vintage boxed Leica camera with lenses that made £1150, a very pretty Japanese Gin Barrie enamel vase that made £1150, and an extremely interesting mineral specimen cabinet brimming with samples and wonderful little corked phials that made £1250. But my own (and the market’s favourite) was a very intriguing little 19^th century American ambrotype of Downieville, California that zoomed past our estimate to make £1500. The works of art moved sleekly into the pictures, starting with Yorkshire artists and moving into the more global stars. My favourites amid these lots were an amazingly realistic still life by Frederick Clifford Harrison that made £900 and a wonderfully atmospheric Trevor Grimshaw that adorned our front cover and depicted a “Northern Valley” in its upmost industrial grime that made £2800.

After all that, we were left with the clocks and furniture lots, with early Georgian pieces rubbing shoulders with some high 20^th century design. Starting with the clocks, a classic early 19^th century bracket timepiece by James McCabe made expectation at £1250. The furniture section sold well, with retro items and Ercol in particular getting great results, but the traditionalist within me was quite pleased to see that the better results were still being achieved by the truly antique pieces. With a wonderfully crooked farmhouse Windsor c.1800 making a fantastic £1050, a 19^th century birds-eye maple pedestal table that made £1200, and a walnut framed Chesterfield sofa that made £1450. But with that said, the top price in the furniture section was a 20^th century made set of chairs, though traditional in form, made by a follower of Mouseman, Wilfred Hutchinson the Squirrel man, that made top estimate at £1500.

The last flagship auction of 2025 was a great success with our sale total landing squarely between our accumulative bottom and top estimates, with hundreds of items finding new homes in time for Christmas stockings all over the world. We have already started collecting and cataloguing items for our Spring sale, so do not hesitate to get in touch with our team.