Spring Blossoming at Hartleys

20th March 2024

As the long winter draws to a close, here at Hartleys we have emerged into the spring with new life and enthusiasm.  Not only have we again taken advantage of the Christmas period to update and renew our premises (there’s nothing like a good Spring clean), but we have also welcomed James Forster as our new picture specialist, who has had a long and distinguished career including time at Sotheby’s.  So, with wide eyes and bushy tails we took to the stage to present our March 20^th Fine Sale, representing the best of the lots seen within our Antiques & Interiors department since Christmas.

We began the day with a real bang as the ceramics section started with the Chinese lots and as early as lot 5, we saw a tremendous result when a simplistic yet striking Sang de Boeuf glazed vase (aided by phone lines and online interest) rocketed up to an amazing £41,000 to a bidder based in China.  I had the under bidder on the phone and in their desperation to attain the piece, led the charge by shouting out their own monetary offers well ahead of where our auctioneer Gerard had started but even with such raw enthusiasm they were still pipped to the post by their competition on another phone!  An exciting start to the day that left our room full of bidders with smirks of excitement.

Another Chinese lot of four small vases made a (slightly less exciting) but very healthy £1,000 against the estimate of £150 – 200.  As part of a wonderfully extensive collection of old English porcelain within the sale a lovely pair of Victorian Staffordshire Van Amburgh lion and lamb flatbacks made £1,000, a novelty Victorian stoneware inkwell in the shape of Dickins’s Mr Pickwick with two other similar items made £1,000 and a later offering in the form of a stunningly painted Royal Worcester vase painted with swans in flight made a tremendous £5,600. The best of the glass came with a Lalique Bagatelle pattern vase that over doubled its upper estimate to make £850, a frequently seen, but popular piece.

The silver section came next with an increased selling rate from the previous two sections, increasing our “hit rate” from 92% to 93%, both fantastic statistics by any auctioneer’s standards. The highlights came with William IV part table service that made £1,200 and a brilliant quality James I provincial seal top spoon that also made £1,200. With bullion in mind a section of gold lots sold very well, without a single unsold lot, seeing a 9ct cigarette case make £1,550 and a similar but classier example with a ruby cabochon made £2,000.

Following the silver, we made our way into a small but distinguished coin section, sporting a heap of brilliant quality examples ranging from James II to Elizabeth II. Only one singular lot remained unsold within this section, and we saw highlights with a three-coin gold proof set from 1988 reaching £1,200, a Victoria Gothic 1847 crown making mid estimate at £1,700 and a Victorian 1848 florin made over the estimate at £1,950; well-deserved prices from coins rarely seen in such good condition.

The watches and jewellery sections were well viewed as ever, typically looking like an excitable rugby scrum during our Saturday opening. The best of the watches came with £1,200 for an 18ct gold hunter pocket watch, £1,850 for a Certina 18ct gold wristwatch and £2,000 for an 18ct gold Omega automatic gents watch. The jewellery sold well with a swathe of popular silver design pieces by Georg Jensen and the typical smattering of diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds.  The most intriguing of them being an emerald and diamond three stone ring in an untypical cut that doubled its estimate to make £1,050, a mourning pendant and a Georgian multigem cross that made £1,300 and a stunning ruby and diamond RAF sweatheart brooch that made £1,900.

Next came our twice-yearly Arms, Militaria & Field Sports section, filled with taxidermy and wonderments from the natural world, as well as weapons of war from pivotal events in history. The best of the medals came from two families of medals awarded to a father and son during the first and second world wars, including an MBE and Military Cross that collectively produced £1,150. The best of the antique weapons came with a flintlock blunderbuss by Ketland sporting a sprung bayonet that made £1,500, a pair of early 18^th century flintlock pistols by Penterman of Utrecht that made £1,550 and a Mughal steel horse bow that made £1,900. Within a section stuffed with Hardy reels and rods, the best of the field sports lots presented with a high-quality salmon reel by Bogdan of Nashua at £1,750 and for the shooters amongst us, a beautiful pair of Alex Martin over and under shotguns reached £5,600. This proved a great section with an excellent sale rate of 97%.

Our works of art section kicked off the second half of the sale with a real array of lots, including a classic bronze sculpture of horses after Pierre Jules Mene that doubled the mid estimate to make £1,050, a terrestrial table globe (great for any interior designer) made £1,200, two consecutive Staunton chess sets made £1,100 and £1,700 respectively and two extremely striking and ethereal figural sculptures by Sean Rice made £3,300 collectively.

The paintings section followed the flow of the works of art, with some amazing standout lots.  A watercolour by William Heaton Cooper, untypically of Skye rather than the Lake District, made £1,800, a cracking oil of our very own Wharfe Valley by Herbert Royle made £2,000 and a poignant oil depicting a Suffragette march by Arthur Delaney reached £6,400. But the greatest surprise of the section came with a fairly dark and unframed watercolour in the manner of Alexander Cozens that ripped past the estimate to make £2,900.

And the last combined sections to finish our Spring sale were the clocks and furniture, two sections that displayed wonderfully together within our saleroom, with grand gilded timepieces chiming away upon oaken tops of wondrous brown furniture. The best of the clocks came from a highly stylish Jaeger-Lecoultre Atmos clock that reached £1,000, before we ventured into the 20^th century designer furniture, with an art deco walnut and chrome drinks trolley by Asprey that made £1,150 and Danish Klein for Bramin retro rosewood dining table and chairs that made £1,750. But just to prove there is still an excellent market for old oak (if you look hard enough), we sold a brilliantly patinated oak and fruitwood cricket table for £1,100 and a 17^th century Welsh oak ark for £1,350.

All in all, the auction was a rip-roaring success, ending with a result close to our collective top estimate and with a brilliant percentage of total lots sold; always good to start the year off well! If the above inspires you to have a root within the dark corners of your homes, do not hesitate to get in touch with our valuation team, as we are already avidly collecting for our next auction.