Accepting entries
Monday 13th June
Tuesday 14th June
Wednesday 15th June
Thursday 16th June
Please telephone or email for an appointment
0191 537 2630
info@boldonauctions.co.uk
Friday, 10 June 2016
Monday, 6 June 2016
You were only supposed to blow
the doors off!
Lot 303 A Cyrus Price and Co. Limited Safe
Estimate £50 - £80
to be offered for sale on Wednesday 8th June Antique and Interiors Sale.
In the 1850's there were two major safe rivals in Wolverhampton Thomas Milner and George Price.
At first, things started out mildly. Milner displayed in his window a mint condition Milner safe, with a totally mutilated Price safe next to it. But then things escalated to a series of challenges of public testing of the safes, both against fire and brute force entry.
One such test took place in April 1860, both Price and Milner showed up with safes to include in the test. As a public test, anyone could try to test the safes. One man, Mr. Freestone, did not like Price, so he showed up that day with a large quantity of gun powder to test a safe. When he tried to place his charge in the lock of the price safe, he discovered that the lock would not hold the mount of gunpowder that he expected, and he was unsuccessful. Milner’s safe was then prepared (by Price’s men), and the door was blown right off its hinges. Milner had boasted a “double patent gunpowder-proof solid lock” but within seven minutes a hole was drilled through the door plate, and the powder was poured through the hole to where the movement of the main bolts were located. Milner’s safe didn’t stand a chance.
Milner then tried to do the same to Price’s safe, but met with failure when they tried to drill or find any other way to dislodge the spindle so they could place a full charge of gunpowder. Considering the trial over and a success, price and his men left. But Milner was not to be out done, he was determined to blow up a Price safe that day. Milner had his men bring an older style safe. Though only five years old, it did not incorporate the improvements of the newer safe, and the lock had been packed with an excessive amount of gunpowder. The safe was blown into bits. The crowd had only been expecting an explosion similar to what they had seen before, so no extra precautions were taken for the larger amount of powder. Pieces of the safe flew into the crowd and a young boy was killed.
Though full of remorse for what happened, Milner and Price continued in their bitter rivalry, their attitudes unchanged.
The "212" is in reference to the temperature at which papers char, or 212 degrees Centigrade. If the interior temperature of a safe is kept below this temperature, documents should be protected.
Cyrus Price died in 1895 though his company continued into the early 1900's.
the doors off!
Lot 303 A Cyrus Price and Co. Limited Safe
Estimate £50 - £80
to be offered for sale on Wednesday 8th June Antique and Interiors Sale.
In the 1850's there were two major safe rivals in Wolverhampton Thomas Milner and George Price.
At first, things started out mildly. Milner displayed in his window a mint condition Milner safe, with a totally mutilated Price safe next to it. But then things escalated to a series of challenges of public testing of the safes, both against fire and brute force entry.
One such test took place in April 1860, both Price and Milner showed up with safes to include in the test. As a public test, anyone could try to test the safes. One man, Mr. Freestone, did not like Price, so he showed up that day with a large quantity of gun powder to test a safe. When he tried to place his charge in the lock of the price safe, he discovered that the lock would not hold the mount of gunpowder that he expected, and he was unsuccessful. Milner’s safe was then prepared (by Price’s men), and the door was blown right off its hinges. Milner had boasted a “double patent gunpowder-proof solid lock” but within seven minutes a hole was drilled through the door plate, and the powder was poured through the hole to where the movement of the main bolts were located. Milner’s safe didn’t stand a chance.
Milner then tried to do the same to Price’s safe, but met with failure when they tried to drill or find any other way to dislodge the spindle so they could place a full charge of gunpowder. Considering the trial over and a success, price and his men left. But Milner was not to be out done, he was determined to blow up a Price safe that day. Milner had his men bring an older style safe. Though only five years old, it did not incorporate the improvements of the newer safe, and the lock had been packed with an excessive amount of gunpowder. The safe was blown into bits. The crowd had only been expecting an explosion similar to what they had seen before, so no extra precautions were taken for the larger amount of powder. Pieces of the safe flew into the crowd and a young boy was killed.
Though full of remorse for what happened, Milner and Price continued in their bitter rivalry, their attitudes unchanged.
Cyrus Price died in 1895 though his company continued into the early 1900's.
Friday, 13 May 2016
A Cello
bow, stamped E.Sartory a` Paris – Sold in our Antique and Interiors sale for
£6500
Originating from Mirecourt
France, Eugène Nicolas Sartory (1871) became known as an influential French
archetier/ bow maker. Sartory first learned
his trade as an apprentice to his father and then went on to work with Paccatte
and Lamy Père, before setting up his own shop on the Boulevard Nouvelle in 1893.
Sartory’s bows are marked
"E.SARTORY A PARIS". It is
said that bows made by the French archetier have been among those most sought
after in instrument building for over 100 years. His perfectly balanced pieces have become
classical examples of the standard of bow that follows the tradition of
François Xavier Tourte. Sartory
perfected his own model and throughout his lifetime produced amazing standard
high quality pieces. Working mostly with
dark Pernambuco in the earlier period and becoming increasingly lighter into
the later years; but always giving his bows luxurious details, with ebony,
silver and gold fittings as well as tortoiseshell thumb leather and lizard
skin.
Saturday, 7 May 2016
Two beautiful lots designed by William Hair Haseler for Liberty's:
Lot 431
A small silver Art and Crafts design bowl, by William Hair Haseler for Liberty's, decorated with 3 stylised hearts enamelled in greens and blues, Birmingham 1904, impressed number 2199, weight 95.4 grams / 3.0 oz
Estimate £150 - £250
Lot 432
An Art and Crafts silver buckle design by William Hair Haseler for Liberty's, of shaped design, centred blue and green enamelled heart, Bimingham 1909, impressed number 00, weight 37 grams / 1.1 oz
Estimate £150 - £250
These lots will be sold on Wednesday 11th May Antique and Interiors Sale. The Auction starts at 10am.
Lot 431
A small silver Art and Crafts design bowl, by William Hair Haseler for Liberty's, decorated with 3 stylised hearts enamelled in greens and blues, Birmingham 1904, impressed number 2199, weight 95.4 grams / 3.0 oz
Estimate £150 - £250
Lot 432
An Art and Crafts silver buckle design by William Hair Haseler for Liberty's, of shaped design, centred blue and green enamelled heart, Bimingham 1909, impressed number 00, weight 37 grams / 1.1 oz
Estimate £150 - £250
These lots will be sold on Wednesday 11th May Antique and Interiors Sale. The Auction starts at 10am.
Friday, 29 April 2016
Boldon Auction
Galleries are
delighted to be offering for auction the following fantastic items.
The
lots will be for sale in our upcoming Antiques and Interiors Sale on Wednesday 11th
May
Military Cross, awarded to
Lieutenant
G.S. Bird
On
March 24th 1920,
For
actions at the Somme, March 1918
A little bit of history of the
Military Cross
Since 28th
December 1914 the third-level military decoration, The Military Cross (MC) has
been awarded to officers of the British Armed Forces. In 1993 a review of the
honours system saw the award granted to other ranks of the British Armed
Forces. The Military Cross is granted
for “an act or acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the
enemy on land to all members, of any rank in Our Armed Forces”. Since 1979 the
award can be granted posthumously along with a number of other military awards.
A little bit of battle history
The First
Battle of the Somme, 1918, was officially named by the British Battles
Nomenclature Committee due to much of the ground being fought over being
wilderness left from the 1916 Battle of the Somme. The battle saw the beginning of the end of
the First World War when the offensive failed. Although reinforcements arrived
in France from the United States of America to give aid and replace the Entente
casualties, the German Army were already unable to recover from their losses.
The offensive known as Operation Michael were unable to achieve their aim and
the German advance was reversed in the Allied Hundred Days Offensive in the
Second Battle for Somme 1918.
Operation
Michael began its Spring offensive on 21st March 1918, it was a First World War
German military operation; launching from the Hindenburg Line, in the vicinity
of Saint-Quentin, France. Once they had broken through Allied lines, they aimed
to advance north-west and seize the Channel ports, hoping to drive the British
Expeditionary Force (BEF) into the sea. Ludendorff however made a change to
this plan and two days later pushed for an offensive due west, along the whole
of the British front north of the River Somme. His intention was to separate
the British and French Armies, crushing the British forces into the sea. At
Villers-Bretonneux, the offensive came to an end, the Entente were able to stop
the German advance east of the Allied communications centre at Amiens; having
suffered many casualties at this point the German armies were unable to
continue supplying the advancing troops.
A very
rare and stylish 1930’s enamel and chrome Bahamas Automobile club badge, with
enamelled crown motif, and central detail of a galleon at sea with legend,
‘Expulsis-Piratis-Resti-Tuta-Commercia’, translating to ‘Pirates Expelled –
Commerce Restored’.
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