Wotton Auction Rooms

July Sale Report

Posted On: 07 Aug 2020 by John Rolfe

Terrific Early Summer Sale

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July Sale Report

One of the largest auctions to be held in recent times in Wotton-under-Edge some 2,000 lots, met with strong interest, locally, nationally and internationally.  Well over one thousand buyers registered online and further telephone, commission and room bids resulted in some extremely good prices in all sections.

 

A new venture here was the garden and outside effects sale, with pieces gathered from local estates and private vendors over the previous few months.  A large but well-disciplined social distancing crowd gathered in the saleroom car park and around the Tabernacle for the four hundred or so lots on offer.

 

Eight pallets of high quality flagstones, some one hundred and fifty in number, attracted strong interest and sold for £3,900.   A number of vehicles from deceased estates all found new buyers, a 2010 Suzuki Jimny made £4,200, a 2014 Smart car £3,900, and a 2009 Toyota Aygo £1,650, while a 1978 Massey Ferguson digger, for extensive restoration, made £1,400.  Garden benches, troughs, urns, ornaments and other effects constantly soared over estimate.  It will almost certainly lead to a stand-alone sale of a similar nature next Spring.

 

With one day down and just another fifteen hundred lots to go over the following two days, the top price for the furniture was taken for a lovely Cotswold School oak bookcase in fine original condition.  Heavily caked in dust and grime, it had been standing next to an open coal fire for many years and was found by us  during a valuation at a property in Cheltenham some months ago.  Fiercely contested, it realized £10,100.  A Vizagapatam table bureau in sandalwood and inlaid with ivory, from the same house, sold at £3,600.  A set of twelve good quality Carolean chairs, well upholstered and raised on turned supports and shaped stretchers realized £1,650,  while a remarkable Chippendale revival 6ft bed stead sold at £1,600 and a military secretaire chest in good order made £1,150.

 

Gold prices have rarely been higher and a private collection of coins sold exceptionally well.   £6,300 was paid for a 2002 gold proof set of thirteen coins, comprising Maundy money through to a five pound coin to one pence denominations, in 22 carat gold and weighing out at one hundred and forty eight grams.  A 2019 Britannia four sided gold sovereign prestige set of five coins from a five pound coin to a quarter sovereign and weighing seventy grams sold at £4,000.  A suite of American gold coins dating between 1850 and 1900 weighing sixty two grams in total, made £2,200, and a twenty dollar Liberty Head coin dated 1877 made £1,250.

 

Jewellery once more made terrific prices. An 18 carat gold Albert chain at sixty grams made £2,000, while an 18ct gold pink sapphire and diamond ring sold at £1,300.  A Martin White of Tetbury, 18ct white gold and diamond bracelet made £1,050.  Virtually every lot sold and this has been the case for several months now.

 

Watches included a Jaeger-Le-Coultre Reverso ladies watch in 18 carat gold at £4,300, and a 1980’s Rolex Oyster quartz datejust at  £2,850.  This has prompted a collection of  Rolex and other good quality watches to be forwarded for the August sale.

 

Other notable prices included a good brass telescope by James Le Cour making £2,700, and  a good 19th century sampler from an orphan house in Ashley Down, Bristol dated 1879 at £1,850.  The auction totalled over a quarter of a million pounds.

 

The next sale will also be a three day event commencing with about two hundred lots of model railway engines and rolling stock; a library of books comprising some two hundred lots from the 17th century to present day including local history and other interesting subjects; a private collection of sixty or more lots of Georgian and later miniature paintings, all of children.  These together with the Rolex and other quality wristwatches already mentioned, alongside further probate instructions, house clearances and other instructions, mean another large event is anticipated.