From Rust to Riches

Sold for £27500

 Lot 310, a 1950 Jaguar XK120 Roadster, was undoubtedly the star of our Fine Art and Antique Sale on 15th December 2010.  The car generated so much interest that extra phone lines had to be manned to cope with the number of telephone bidders before selling to the room for a massive £27,500.  The story of the car captured the imagination of the press with features on BBC Look North,  BBC Radio Newcastle, as well as in The Journal and The Sunderland Echo, The XK Gazette and Classic Car Magazine.

The huge project of restoring this beautiful car has been taken on by a local enthusiast who plans to spend over two years working on it and has promised to keep us up to date with his progress.

Although the spotlight was on the XK120 it didn't detract attention from the rest of the sale with a saleroom full of lively bidders competing with not only telephone purchasers but also online buyers.

Lot 55, an elegant Lalique "Statuette de la Fontaine" cendrier sold particularly well at £600,

Lot 55 - £600

and this wily Sylvac fox and chicken made an impressive £240.

Lot 68 - £240

Medals always prove popular and this collection including "South Africa 1902" and three World War I
medals with a heart shaped Durham Light Infantry cushion and silk embroidered panel reached £320.

Lot 130 - £320

Jewellery was popular in this sale - perhaps with Christmas looming - and Lots 241 and 242, a platinum set pendant with 57 old cut diamonds and a pair of platinum set drop earrings also set with old cut diamonds, selling for £1000 and £460 respectively, while Lot 258, an 18ct gold solitaire diamond ring sold for £700.



Lot 241 - £1000

Lot 242 - £460

Lot 258 - £700

Both this beautiful Irish Victorian silver tea pot and lot 251, a canteen of Old English Pattern cutlery exceeded  their upper estimates showing that the market for silver is still buoyant.

Lot 188 - £550

Lot 251 - £920

And gold prices continue to remain high with Lot 231 a 9ct gold engine turned cigarette case pushing past its estimate to reach £980.

Lot 231 - £980

  Paintings sold well with a lot of interest in Lot 305, the Thomas Bush Hardy watercolour of "Deojozzi off the Giardini Pubblici" which sold to a telephone bidder for £3500.

Lot 305 - Sold for £3500

Lot 269, a watercolour by William Selwyn of "Winter sunshine Nant Gwynant" fetched £600

Lot 269 - £600

and two watercolours by M Snape also sold well.

Lot 273 - £700

Lot 274 - £500

 We had some interesting pieces of furniture which met a positive response.  Lot 324, a Regency mahogany sofa table, sold for £880;

Lot 324 - £880

and clocks were popular with this 19th Century Carlisle made long case clock selling for £520.

Lot 328 - £520

This beautiful 19th Century pine fire surround decorated with acanthus and foliate scrolls, birds and flowers rocketed up to £900 while Lot 366, a bronze fountain centre piece modelled on a young boy holding 2 ducks made an impressive £700,

Lot 365 - £900

Lot 366 - £700

The best seller was Lot 367, a 19th Century secretaire campaign chest which sold for £17500.

Lot 367 -  £1750

This has been a very successful finale to the year and Boldon Auction Galleries

is already putting together the next Fine Art and Antique Sale to be held on Wednesday 16th March 2011.

We would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.

1950 Jaguar XK120 Roadster

We are very excited about one particular lot coming under the hammer at our next Fine Art and Antique Auction on Wednesday 15th December as we will be selling a fabulous 1950 Jaguar XK120 Roadster................

Jaguar introduced the XK120 Roadster at the London Motor Show in 1948 as their first post-war sports car.  "XK" refers to the new type of engine created by Jaguar and "120" refers to its top speed of 120mph - although it could go faster with the windscreen removed. 

This made it the world's fastest production car when it was launched.

The Roadster was the first type of XK120 to be produced, followed by the FHC - fixed head coupe in 1951 and the DHC - drophead coupe in 1953.  The Roadster's sidescreens and canvas top could be stored behind the seats and the streamlined car had no external door handles and could have the windscreen removed to allow aeroscreens to be fitted instead.

The car was a massive success winning races and breaking endurance records including being driven flat out for 24 hours (with stops for fuel, tyres and driver changeover) by Leslie Johnson and Stirling Moss in 1950 - the first production car to average over 100 mph for 24 hours.  

(information from Wikipedia)

We believe that the model that we have coming up for auction was also raced by its owner and while it is clearly in need of restoration we still expect there to be fierce competition when it comes under the hammer. 

Fine Art and Antique Auction

Wednesday 15th December 10am

Viewing:

Saturday 11 December 10am-1pm

Tuesday 14th December 2-7pm

Gabrielle Designs Paddington Bear

Teddy bear enthusiasts and vintage toy collectors need to get ready for a lovely lot coming up for sale at Boldon Auction Galleries at our next General Sale.....................

...........a vintage Gabrielle Designs Paddington Bear complete with his luggage label from "Darkest Peru to London, England".

Gabrielle Designs was started in 1972 by TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson's mother and father from their home near Doncaster.  The first Paddington was made for Jeremy and his sister as a Christmas present. 

Shirley Clarkson stood her bears in small childrens' boots to help them stand up and this is how Paddington acquired his famous wellingtons.

Very early Paddingtons had stump legs with no shape for the foot while later bears had a more defined foot shape.  Similarly, early bears wore child's Dunlop wellies until demand grew so huge that Shirley Clarkson had to commission specially made boots with bear paw prints moulded into the sole.  Early bears also wore a range of coloured coats and hats until certain colour combinations proved most popular - such as red and blue or yellow and black.

Our bear appears to fall into the earlier production phase due to the colour of his clothing and his dunlop wellies, although he does have the slightly later style of foot. 

Similar bears are being sold online from £65-£100 so we'll keep our fingers crossed that our very own Paddington Bear will have a happy ending in a new home.

The next General Sale will be held on

Wednesday 17th November at 10am

Viewing on Saturday 13th November from 10am-1pm

and Tuesday 16th November from 2-6pm

The appeal of Beswick

We hope to use these pages to highlight interesting items that are coming up for sale, to share our newsletters, to provide useful information on antique styles and terminology and also to provide a brief history of some of our most popular designers and makers.

So the arrival of an impressive collection of Beswick horses and other animals in our office this week has, unsuprisingly, prompted a post about the Beswick potteries.

J W Beswick was founded in the early 1890s by James Wright Beswick and his sons John and Gilbert and was based at Longton, Stoke on  Trent and initially focused on tableware and Staffordshire style cats and dogs.  When James Wright Beswick died in 1921 the company continued to develop under his grandson John Ewart Beswick and in 1936 became a limited company, John Beswick Ltd.

In 1934 high fired bone china was introduced which meant the company could produce high quality, fine detailed bone china figurines. 

(Fireside dogs sold for between £75 and £100 each)

In 1939 Arthur Gredington was appointed as chief modeller and the company began to produce farm animals and Arthur's range of 190 Rearing Horsemen which became one of the largest and most popular collections.  Early animal figures had been more humorous in semi-human poses but under decorating manager Jim Hayward there was a move towards more lifelike animal portrayals.  In 1945 the company was able to expand into the adjoining factory.

In 1947 Lucy Beswick suggested modelling the illustrations from Beatrix Potter's books and in 1948 the company secured the right to reproduce 10 of the characters starting with Jemima Puddle-Duck.  In 1952 they went on to produce a range of Disney characters including Snow White and Bambi. 

(Sold for £190 in September 2009)

In 1969 the company was sold to Royal Doulton who continued to produce some animal figures but by 1989 the Beswick backstamp had been dropped and replaced by a Royal Doulton Royal Albert DA stamp.

The range of Beatrix Potter figurines was reintroduced in 1998 but by the end of 2002 Royal Doulton stopped producing Beswick products and sold off the potteries.

In 2005 the brand name, moulds and archive material were bought by another company who now produce a range of animal figures under the name John Beswick. (for more information see Wikipedia)

A wide selection of pieces come through our saleroom both in the General Sales and the Fine Art and Antique auctions (see above for some examples from recent sales)  and prices can range from about £20 for a couple of small pieces upto £750 for this pair of boys on their ponies,

so it will be interesting to see how the recent arrivals will sell.

Local items under the hammer

A number of items of local interest were also for auction this month with Sunderland lustre ware continuing to sell well.

We had a wide selection of fine examples including this collection of five jugs which sold for £380;

this “frog mug”,

with its cheeky resident frog



which sold for £210;

Lot 91 A miniature purple lustre cream jug

'Ladies all I pray make free, and tell me how you like your tea' which sold for £280;

and Lot 138, A Sunderland purple lustre jug "Success to the Coal Trade" with "High Level Bridge Newcastle upon Tyne".

which sold for £250.

Sunderland also featured on a Victorian etched glass rumer dated 1845 which sold for £160.

 

A large private collection of Maling pottery was up for sale at this auction, including Lot 109

A Maling vase "Anemone grey" which reached a hammer price of £130.

Two albums of local postcards were well received with Lot 188,

an album of postcards of Sunderland and South Shields reaching £160;

and an album of cards of Darlington and Durham selling for £130.

Three Tom McGuinness limited edition prints proved popular:

“Paymote Day”

sold for £100;

“Time to go” sold for £110;

and “The Allotments Easington” sold for £200.

Paintings of Northumberland’s castles are always popular at auction, with this unsigned oil on canvas“View of Warkworth Castle” fetching £180.

Do you have a piece of local history or art hiding in the back of a cupboard?  If so, why not bring it along to one of our free Open Valuation sessions on Friday 22nd October or Friday 5th November between 2-4pm?

A Regency Revival?

The highlight of Boldon Auction Galleries’ Fine Art and Antique Sale on 22nd September 2010 was definitely this Regency rosewood breakfront Chiffonier, Lot 374,

which generated eager bidding on all 4 telephone lines, through online bidding and in the saleroom before rocketing up to £8000.

Other items of furniture were also very popular with a Shapland and Petter Arts and Crafts oak hall stand with an embossed copper frieze bearing the inscription 'Fair Weather After You' and aneroid barometer dial selling for £1050.

and this beautiful Victorian ebonised fold-over card table selling for £320.

Famous furniture maker “Mousey” Thompson was also represented in the sale – but by two smaller examples of work which sold for £260 and £180 respectively.

The large private collection of USA WWII military propaganda posters generated a lot of interest with auctioneer Tom Robson featuring on the front page of one of the local newspapers.  They sold well with two particularly good lots, Lot 195 fetching £250

and Lot 207 selling for £150.

The star of the ceramics was Lot 38, a Clarice Cliff Bizarre “Kew” patterned vase

Which sold for £900.

Lot 71 was also a hit with this Beswick hunting set trotting out of the saleroom with a hammer price of £480.

Collectors of militaria had a number of lots to keep them interested including a German WWI Picklehaub which sold for £200,

three German WWII daggers which sold for £230,

and a flintlock pistol and smaller pistol which sold for £400.

The jewellery and silverware section also did well. Lot 233,

an 18ct white gold bracelet fetched £720, and Lot 271, a silver four piece coffee set sold for £400.

We are now accepting entries for our next Fine Art and Antique Sale which will be held on Wednesday 15th December 2010.