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WOTTON AUCTION ROOMS
REVIEW OF 2001
Wotton-under-Edge, in its sheltered position beneath
the hills, could perhaps be seen as a haven from the outer world. However, there
was no escape, even here, from the traumatic events of 2001. The foot and mouth
crisis devastated the local farming community and many longstanding clients
of the auction rooms, with links spanning several generations since the early
days of Luce Panes, were severely affected. The vast majority of those attending
the sales in the Spring fully appreciated the need for the precautions taken
by the saleroom to lessen the risks involved, and braved both snowy conditions
and the closure of the carpark.
After September 11th it was noticeable
that the American market, quite understandably, went extremely quiet and the
number of E-mail enquiries received from the States was dramatically reduced.
Having said that, a number of buyers commented to the auctioneers that they
would be buying antiques as an alternative to investing money in unstable markets
or poor interest accounts.
Aside from the troubles of 2001 the auctioneers
can report another extremely busy year with monthly sales still regularly topping
1,600 lots and the Tabernacle still packed with buyers.
Pictures have provided some of the top prices of
2001 – in fact the auctioneers had to wait until the end of December to secure
their record price for the year - £23,500 paid by a private collector for an
oil painting by Alfred De Breanski Senior. The painting had been stored in a
shed for a number of years but its neglected condition only seemed to enhance
the charms of the quintessentially Victorian landscape of Highland cattle watering
in the loch at Arrochar in the evening light. Another picture which had been
waiting rediscovery was the oil painting on canvas of a pair of Scottie dogs
by renowned animal painter, Arthur Wardle. The painting was commissioned by
John Player and Sons for their series of cigarette cards showing pedigree dogs
in the 1920s, but was in use as a fire screen when discovered by the auctioneers
during a routine house visit in June. Despite a couple of holes and needing
a clean, the picture attracted interest from collectors in America and in this
country and achieved £3,800.
Other noteworthy prices amongst the picture have
been £2,900 paid for an oil painting of Lake Garda by J. Vivian de Fleury in
January, £4,000 paid for a pair of Venetian canalscapes by Victorian artist
Alfred Pollentine in September, £1,050 paid in the same sale for each of two
early 19th century samplers (one showing Adam, Eve and the serpent),
and £2,200 paid in November for a fine but undated early 19th century
sampler by Margaret Martin.
Ceramics were the usual staple this year with each
sale over-subscribed and with often in excess of 400 lots of ceramics and glass
on offer. As with the pictures, the top price of the year was something of a
swansong, with the Christmas sale yielding an early Chinese blue and white two
sectional vase which set the room alight at £16,500 after a battle between four
telephone bidders and a number of buyers in the room. January saw a particularly
strong ceramics section with an early 19th century Spode meat plate
from the "Indian Hunting Series" showing a leopard up a tree, selling
for £3,000. The plate had been part of a large collection cleared from a property
just south of Salisbury. From the same house came an 18th century
Chinese export bowl painted with an oriental slant on a European fox hunting
scene, the charm of which prompted a bid of £1,850. Also in January a pair of
Staffordshire figures of Bristol schoolchildren, "Colston Boy" and
"Red Maid" was purchased for £900 and found a new home at one of the
schools.
Majolica sold strongly during the year with a Minton’s
game dish selling for £1,450 in March, a Minton’s garden seat realising £620
in October and a teapot in the form of a cockeral realising £2,300 in November.
As ever furniture is the lifeblood of the saleroom
with the traditional 18th and 19th century mahogany, walnut
and rosewood now finding competition from 20th century furniture.
In November a collection of Heals cottage furniture dating from the 1930s and
40s, and comprising beds, tables, dressing chests and chairs, all with a limed
oak finish, totalled £3,500. In December a table designed and constructed by
Alan Peters in the early 1980s was much admired and sold for £860.
The summer was an especially busy time with a sale
of the contents of a farmhouse at Hankerton attracting the usual large crowds,
and a stream of probate instructions from local solicitors creating a log-jam
of fine furniture at the Tabernacle. A good, small 18th century mahogany
fold-over top tea table on shaped supports and with acanthus carving topped
the June sale at £5,000 but this was followed by a host of other four figure
results amongst the furniture. A George III mahogany serpentine chest of four
long drawers realised £4,000, two Georgian mahogany chest on chests sold for
£2,250 and £1,850 apiece, an Edwardian mahogany kidney shaped writing table
was bid to £2,600 and a Georgian style breakfront secretaire bookcase sold for
£2,800.
Dining furniture sold strongly throughout the year
with a set of William IV oak dining chairs reaching £1,650 in April, a three
sectional mahogany D end dining table and a late 19th century mahogany
extending dining table with two additional leaves selling for £2,000 and £1,100
respectively in July, and a Victorian walnut D end extending table at over fourteen
feet long selling for £3,600 in August.
Some rare and interesting pieces of furniture passed
through the rooms in 2001 including an 18th century mahogany architect’s
or draughtsman’s table from a house in the town which sold to an Irish buyer
for £4,100 in November. In September a walnut centre stool sold for £2,300 but
yet again it was the Christmas sale that broke the records when an early 19th
century centre table with a splendid specimen stone top sold for £6,000.
In October a couple of good Georgian long case
clocks aroused interest, one boasted a painted dial and rolling lunar phase
and sold for £3,600, the other was housed in a plainer case but included an
automaton of Adam and Eve, and sold for £3,100.
Every year items arrive at the rooms which are
difficult to categorise but which all have their own faithful following amongst
collectors and specialist dealers. Lots which spring to mind in 2001 include
a Victorian penny farthing cycle with Mikado hub lamp which sold for £1,450
in March, a 19th century Italian micro-mosaic brooch purchased for
£1 at a car boot sale and selling for £1,250 in June, a collection of 17th,
18th and 19th century maps which totalled £5,000 in July,
and a fascinating collection of textiles inherited from Dame Joan Evans by her
housekeeper and including unused
bolts of Liberty’s silks and Georgian ivory bobbins
which totalled £2,000 and £660 respectively in August,
2002 begins for the auctioneers on Saturday January
12th with a sale of the contents of the well known Petty France hotel. In the
early spring a specialist auction of early medical equipment is to be sold at
the Tabernacle and items are, of course, already arriving at the saleroom for
the monthly two day sale at the end of January. The auctioneers hope to build
on the successes of 2001 and we all hope that the local and global problems
of last year will be resolved in 2002. The auctioneers would like to wish all
their vendors and purchasers a very happy New Year and thank them for their
continuing support.
