Antique dog collars fetch good prices

Sales of almost £1.5 million were achieved at North Yorkshire auction house Tennants’ recent Spring Fine Art Sale, with a 29-lot-strong collection of antique dog collars achieving £23,230.

The dog collars gained international interest, with highlights including a William and Mary silver dog collar from 1691 making £2,500; and a large Victorian silver dog collar by Robert Garrard of London (1859) fetching £4,200.

The Works of Art section of the sale also yielded good results, with one example, a rare stumpwork casket (c 1670), depicting possibly Charles II and Catherine Braganza sold for £9,000.

An antique longcase clockClocks in sale

The auction house said that the sale’s clock section was another area that displayed encouraging results, with a larger number of bidders competing. The lead sales were:

  • Two longcase clocks from the same consignment headed the section; a burr walnut month going clock, signed Joseph Windmills, London, c.1695 sold for £11,000, and a mulberry eight day clock, signed Peter Walker, Wild Street End, London, c.1695 sold for £15,000.
  • An 18th-century ebony veneered chiming table clock, signed Benj. Shuckforth, Diss, c.1750, which was in its original state with no conversions sold for £4,800.
  • a George III mahogany bowfront stick barometer, signed J Ramsden, London, c.1790 sold for £3,400.

Asian works of art

The Asian section of the sale was led by a Chinese Antique Guan type vaseGuan type mallet vase, probably Yuan or early Ming period with good provenance, which sold for £36,000, against an estimate of £18,000 to £25,000.

Elsewhere, strong Chinese interest lifted a Chinese Cloisonné Enamel Bottle Vase above its £2,000 to £3,000 estimate, to eventually sell for £10,000. Similarly, a Chinese porcelain brush pot sold for ten times its estimate to reach £6,000.

Interest in Gertrude Bell

Three lots in the sale with good provenance and linked to celebrated Victorian traveller and writer Gertrude Bell, known as the Queen of the Desert, generated interest. These included:

  • two carpets given to Bell by King Faisal I of Iraq, which sold for £1,900 apiece
  • a quantity of original William Morris-designed curtains and furnishing fabrics from Bell’s family home, Rounton Grange in North Yorkshire, sold for £3,500.

Sales of furniture

The top lot of the furniture section was a William and Mary style walnut and oyster veneered side table, which sold for £11,000. Also selling strongly were a Victorian mahogany Carlton House desk from the late 19th century, which sold for £2,300, as well as an early 18th-century giltwood and gesso pier glass, in the manner of James Moore and John Gumley, which sold for £4,200.

Silver sales

Good prices were achieved all round in the silver section, with the top lot going to an intricately decorated silver twin-handled tray by Mappin and Webb, London, 1894, which sold for £4,000.

Antique diamond broochElsewhere, an oversized German silver cow creamer from the Ruby Red Collection of Cow Creamers sold for £2,800 against an estimate of £1,000-1,500, and an early Victorian silver-mounted and frosted glass ‘Askos’ jug by Charles Reily and George Storer, London, 1844, sold for £2,500.

Other highlights

Across the sale’s other sections, including 20th-century design, collectors’ watches and jewellery, noticeable results were:

  • a Guild of Handicraft Limited silver and enamel box, which sold for £5,000
  • a Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson pair of oak bookends in the form of squirrels selling for £3,500
  • a carved oak Fox by Stan ‘Woodpeckerman’ Dodds, who worked for Robert Thompson, selling for an impressive £5,000
  • an Omega British Military Royal Air Force watch from 1953 in good original condition selling for £2,500
  • a Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse watch, with sought-after blue sunburst dial, which sold for £5,000
  • a diamond bow brooch consisting of old cut diamonds around a central 3 carat (approx.) old cut stone, which sold for £11,000
  • a graduated diamond necklace, which sold for £16,000.

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