|
AGAINST ALL ODDS
There is always a great deal of
pressure on staff at the Wotton Auction Rooms to turn around the
saleroom in about 28 days to produce yet another large, varied
and interesting auction – take away five working days due to
public holidays and you would imagine that the task would be
almost impossible. Almost but not quite. May saw one of the
best sales of the year with a large company in attendance due to
smaller sales elsewhere.
Leading the sale, was a lot we found
in a bedroom of a small property in Dursley, a Louis Vuitton
travelling trunk made around 1893. In excellent condition, the
trunk had simply been used for storage of household linen.
“It’s make and value were completely unknown to its owner”,
commented Philip Taubenheim who discovered the box. A hotly
contested battle between English and American buyers on various
telephone lines saw the lot finally fall to a London buyer at
£7,000.
Next in line was a 16th
century Italian school oil on panel showing the Virgin and Child
together with other characters. Despite feelings that it was
all that remained of a larger panel it sold readily enough at
£3,600. This was followed by a further Italian work, this time
a micro mosaic panel, only about four and a half inches by one
and a half inches, showing two dogs fighting a large bear and
dating from the early 19th century, it realised
£2,700.
A strong jewellery section saw
£1,400 paid for a two stone diamond ring and £2,000 for a
diamond set latin cross, the collection totalled £21,953.
Silver was once again heavily
contested and virtually every lot sold totalling £10,843.
Other notable prices included £1,400
for a pair of 18th century pistols by John Twigg,
while three early 20th century Vienna cabinet plates
each showing a young woman set within a blue and gilt border
sold at £1,500.
The best of the clocks included
£1,250 paid for a 19th century French boulle work
bracket clock .
Work has now commenced on the forthcoming sale in
June and a packed saleroom is envisaged.
|
