Antiques Trade Gazette 17


in Exeter


Right: RAF airfield clock


– £2000 at Bellmans. Times of war


Above left: Ming/Qing bronze tortoise vessel – £5100 at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood where the Six Dynasties/Tang stone carving, above right, took £3600.


Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood January 25-26 Number of lots offered: 570 Lots sold: 81% Buyer’s Premium: 19% Sale total: £470,000


Lots sold to internet: 89 Value sold to internet: £70,050 Bidders registered to internet: 510


England’s contribution to the ceramics


success was a piece of Moorcroft – a 6¾in (17cm) tall, two-handled, square-section biscuit box and cover which had come in on a valuation day. Tube-lined in the Cornflower pattern in red and russet on a green background and with the green signatureW. Moorcroft 1914, it had suffered some interior staining and was estimated at £500-700. Two local dealers joined battle and the biscuit box went to one of them at £3500. France was represented in the opening


two dozen lots of glass, ranging from 18th century English wine glasses to Gallé and Art Deco. The eye-catcher was a c.1910-20


Lalique Ronces vase. The (23.5cm) tall slender ovoid vase moulded with tangled briars had a minor chip flake but the two local rivals again went head to head and the underbidder on the Moorcroft secured the Lalique at an above-estimate £3700. Among the collectables was an offering


of 13 Welsh treen love spoons from the home of a recently deceased local solicitor. All sold, mainly to Welsh collectors, and totalled £7250, about double the mid estimate, with the best single offering being a 2in (5cm) long 18th century example with four small bowls and fret- cut sailing ship and a horse which tripled expectations at £920. Leading a 27-lot clocks section was


an eight-day bracket clock with five-pillar movement engraved to the 7in (18cm) arched brass dial William Frodsham, Red Lion Sq London, founder of the famous firm. It went to a private buyer at a within- estimate £7300. The other leading clocks all came


from the workshop of a deceased local enthusiast, some of whose clock movements had been sold in general sales. A 17th century 15in (38cm) tall brass


lantern clock, with a short-duration, weight-driven movement with balance wheel, striking the hours on a bell, was signed to the 6in (15cm) dial John Ebsworth at ye cross keys in Lothbury, Londini. It went to the trade within estimate at £5800. The late collector’s longcases also did


well in what is still a depressed market. A late 17th/early 18th century clock with eight-day movement engraved to the 12in (30cm) square brass dial Chas. Gretton, London housed in a 7ft 2in (2.20m) tall marquetry walnut case went to an Australian buyer on its lower £4000 estimate. Going well above expectations were


longcase movements housed in later cases. A year-duration movement with


double-weight drive, dead-beat escapement and five-spoke wheelwork engraved to the back plate by the early 19th century Yorkshire maker [Andrew] Crawshaw, Rotherham, went to the trade at around five times the mid estimate at £3800 and an eight-day movement by the 17th century London maker William Knottesford, with a six finned-pillar movement and 10in (25cm) square brass dial, went to a private Yorkshire bidder at a double-estimate £3200. The day closed with just over 80


lots of furniture which maintained the overall selling rate of 81 per cent. Good 18th and 19th century pieces


are still cheap (a George III mahogany breakfast table at £360, a Victorian burr walnut veneered and tulipwood crossbanded bedside cabinet at £640) but there was some action. A small George III mahogany and


inlaid circular revolving drum table quadrupled the mid-estimate going to the West Country trade at £3800, and an early 19th century partners’ pedestal desk in mahogany doubled top hopes going to a private buyer at £3100.


THERE were also echoes of the Second World War at the January 7 Stamford sale held by Batemans 15% buyer’s premium), in the form of the half-length bust of Sir Winston Churchill, above. The 14in (36cm) tall bronze of Britain’s wartime


leader by an obscure sculptor signing himself Joaquino Meiselles was cast to commemorate his taking the salute of troops in North Africa in 1944. Signed and dated 1944, it was presented to the British Consulate in Porto in 1945. At the Lincolnshire sale it led the day when it went to a private buyer at £2700.


It wasn’t all Chinese stars at BH&L – the Lalique vase, top, made £3700; a pair of Vienna ewers, one shown above, made £5200; the Arita plate, below, took £3100; and the Moorcroft biscuit box, bottom, made £3500.


SEVENTY odd years ago, Tangmere was a key airfield in the RAF’s battles with the Luftwaffe. Last month at Bellmans’ (20% buyer’s premium) January 18-20 sale at Wisborough Green, West Sussex, memories of the nearby airfield and the air conflict were evoked by the top two sellers. One was a mahogany-cased dial clock with an


18in (46cm) painted tin dial detailed RAF Tangmere 3337, which was rather more important than its single brass fusee movement and pendulum. It was dated mid-20th century, so was installed after the War at the airfield where Douglas Bader was commander in 1941 and which had been a training field for pilots in the First World War. The date did not deter bidders and it sold to a private buyer at £2000 against an estimate of £200-300. The Luftwaffe (like the Kriegsmarine a much less


Above: Luftwaffe pilot’s watch – £3200 at Bellmans.


sensitive collecting area than Nazi army souvenirs) was represented by a Second World War pilot’s wristwatch, with the gilt jewelled lever movement detailed A. Lange & Sohne, Glashutte E I SA and numbered 210989. In price terms, the West Sussex day saw victory for the Luftwaffe – estimated at £500-£800, the watch went to a collector at £3200.


Saluting Churchill


Right: 1944 sculpted bust of Churchill – £2700 at Batemans.


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