Brightwells 25th January 2012 Sale

A George III mahogany octagonal revolving two tier pillar table, just 25in wide, was unusual and attracted interest selling for £2,400 while an oak dresser with many drawers and cupboards and a shell inlay made £1,300: an oak dresser of the pot-board type sold for £900. The simple lines of a panelled oak cupboard appealed to several buyers and made £800 with George III figured satinwood Pembroke table with a double crossbanded rectangular top contested well above expectation to £2,100. A walnut bureau with a raised gilt metal gallery made £700 while a 19th century mahogany side table standing on classical fluted columns and stamped Edward Roberts achieved £680. A massive Gothic style oak partners desk made £1,200. Smaller pieces of furniture included an eighteenth century elm stool with six turned barley sugar legs at £750 and a pair of early nineteenth century mahogany stools at £820. A Victorian bur walnut three tier etargere with a pierced galley sold for £750 with a nineteenth century cheval looking glass achieving £720. A William 1V mahogany work-table was purchased for £680 with a pair of Edwardian candle stands making £650. A Victorian walnut piano stool with ornate fretted panels and fluted columns made £880 with a coffer bach selling for £500. Stamped S.W. Silver & Co. London and Liverpool, a brass bound military chest made £850.Among a selection of clocks a nineteenth century walnut longcase sold for a good £2,000 while an early nineteenth century oak version made £1,300.

While Brightwells sell their most expensive paintings in their specialist picture auctions some interesting works were on offer in this sale such as a watercolour of a traditional English thatched cottage painted by Claude Strachan that sold for £1,500 and an oil on panel depicting a farmyard scene by John Falconar Slater that made £700. A pencil and watercolour by Basil Nightingale entitled ‘A Leader of Men’, dated 1915 achieved £650 with a set of four aquatints of hunting incidents after John Frederick Herring Snr. making £780. An oil on canvas of children fishing by Konstantin Razumov sold for £600. In contrast, and giving some indication of the wide variety of paintings on offer, a group of original artwork for Disney annuals of the 1960s sold for £480. The work of local artist Brian Hatton is of obvious interest in Herefordshire as he was born in Hereford in 1887 and showed early promise as a draughtsman. In 1898 at the age of eleven, he was awarded the Gold Star of the Royal Drawing Society, a great honour. His pencil sketch of sheep grazing around a gnarled tree dated 1898 ,the same year as the award sold for £1,500. Juvenilia of promising artists is always of interest to collectors and researchers and this was amongst his earliest known works. He later painted many portraits as well as local country scenes and some harrowing war sketches. He was killed in action in 1916 and takes his place among many young artists whose great promise was never fully developed.

Chinese buyers contested a flowered vase in the ceramics section of the sale to £1,150 despite damage to the lid. English china included a Wedgwood black basalt vase and cover at £460 and a Royal Worcester plate painted with peaches and gooseberries and signed G. Love at £370. Another Worcester plate signed H Ayrton made the same price with a rose painted vase signed Cy White, c1909 selling for £230. A Royal Worcester Lavinia dinner service for twelve sold at an attractive £300. The Glorious 1st of June 1774 was commemorated on the lid of a Staffordshire enamel patch box that attracted interest despite slight damage and sold for £390 with a nineteenth century bronze souvenir model of the Arc de Triomphe making £500. A smokers’ cabinet in the form of a G.W.R four wheeled coal truck sold at £400.

A single stone diamond ring, the claw set brilliant cut stone set between six pave stones was contested to £2,600 in the jewellery section while a sapphire and diamond three stone claw set sapphire with two old cut diamonds sold for £1,000. A ladies art deco cocktail watch in a platinum case made £260 with an Egona Chronograph wristwatch with an 18ct gold case selling at £400. A pair of gold cufflinks engraved with the crest of a local family sold for a good £430. Whilst large pieces of silver sold for good prices because of the strength of the market such as the £780 paid for a 19th century Russian bachelor’s three piece tea service, the smaller pieces, especially pincushions revealed some interesting prices. An unusual reclining pig, Birmingham 1909 sold for £520 with another in the form of a duck, Birmingham 1908 making £145. A pair of chick pincushions, Birmingham 1905 made £160 with a 1908 elephant with a raised trunk making £170. A desk seal in the form of an owl, Chester 1908 sold for £180 with a Continental silver pepperette in the form of a pheasant making £130. A silver and tortoiseshell photograph frame, Birmingham 1927 sold at £430.