It was a record-breaking day at Clevedon Salerooms’ most recent three-weekly Interiors sale at the Kenn Road Auction Centre on Thursday 16th November. With a bumper offering of over 800 lots, enthusiastic bidding throughout the sale saw auctioneers rewarded with their highest ever sale total for an Interiors auction.
In a day which saw high prices achieved across the board, it was the ceramics section that the day’s showstoppers came. An early Staffordshire Pearlware group, ‘Vicar and Moses’ - depicting a Vicar and Verger staggering along having enjoyed a drop too many, is a model often seen, this was, however an early version, made all the more desirable by it being on a titled plinth base. This certainly struck a chord with bidders and our tottering pair quickly raced past the estimate to sell for £1,300, a result which, appropriately, could only be described as staggering. Then the high note was hit again, this time this time with a collection of teawares. Not, it has to be said, normally the kind of fare to get valuer’s pulses racing but when it’s Royal Albert’s Old Country Roses it can be a different story. With its colourful red roses, this one-time staple of china cabinets everywhere, is proving popular with bidders in the Far East, but what of its far rarer blue roses variant? When Clevedon’s salerooms valuer Chris Yeo took a call from a lady who had a large collection inherited from a family friend but who was unable to bring in herself due to mobility issues, he was happy to jump in his car to collect it himself. This good deed certainly paid off for all concerned when it turned out that the lady’s large collection was in this particularly rare colourway. One of the most watched items online, hopeful expectations were quickly realised and then exceeded, as the collection sold for an incredible £1,300.
As is customary at Clevedon, the Jewellery section opened proceedings where a gold flexi-link necklace and matching bracelet, stamped '750’ took the day’s top price at £2,700. There was a taste of the Orient in the Silver section, where a Chinese white-metal bowl with dragon decoration, together with a melon-shaped teapot, exceeded expectations selling for £2,400. There was also a tuneful element to the auction as a four string ivorine inlaid ukelele by the splendidly named C.F. Martin & Co of Nazareth PA left its estimate well and truly in the shade, to sell for £800. As what has turned out to be a vintage year at Clevedon Salerooms draws to a close, attention turns to the Winter Specialist sale on December 7th. Highlights of what promises to be a memorable sale include the selected contents of Gatcombe Court, Somerset, a large collection of fruit decorated Worcester porcelain, a collection of twentieth century Nigerian art. We will also be offering selected furniture and paintings previously at Sutton House, Clifton. Included are works by Alfred de Breanski, Sidney Richard Percy, and Alfred Pollentine, together with fine 19th century furniture.
The sale commences at 10.30am with viewing the day before from 10am to 5pm, the morning of the sale from 9am to 10.30am.