AUCTION Sales round up
Fellows, Birmingham A limited-edition Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Leo Messi watch, expected to make £18,000-£24,000, sold for £31,200 at the Midlands auction house’s recent sale.
The Swiss watch maker began a relationship with the Argentinian footballer in 2005 when he was presented with a Royal Oak by his manager following his first Liga title. After this, he became an avid collector of Royal Oaks and in 2010 became brand ambassador for the watchmaker.
The relationship was cemented in 2012 when Audermars Piguet released The Royal Oak Leo Messi limited edition. The collection was limited to just 1,000 pieces across three different variants – stainless-steel, gold, and platinum.
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Leo Messi watch was issued in
2012
Catherine Southon, Farleigh Court Golf Club A collection of letters written on behalf of the Duke of Windsor in the 1930s fetched £350 at Catherine Southon’s sale in Surrey on February 8.
The 14 letters, posted from all over the world, were written by the private secretary of the Duke of Windsor (previously Edward VIII) and date from the period June 1937 – six months after his historic abdication - through to Christmas 1939.
One letter dated September 7, 1937, comments: “His Royal Highness wishes to assure you that the information that His Royal Highness is homesick is entirely without foundation...Quite apart from rumours in the press, it is not very likely he would be missing the country which in every possible way, tried to humiliate and misrepresent both himself and the Duchess of Windsor.”
Catherine Southon said: “It’s amazing what parallels there are with today’s royal family.”
The archive gave an insight into the post-abdication life of the duke
Women’s programmes, estimated at £200-£300,
sold for
£400
Graham Budd, London A single-owner collection of football memorabilia amassed over 60 years and spanning 120 years of soccer history hit home with collectors on February 7.
Made up of 460 lots of autographs, annuals and ceramics, it included several sought-after Manchester United programmes, including their first away match in the European Cup at Anderlecht in 1956. Expected to make £1,600£1,800, it fetched £3,800. A rare programme printed in the event of a replay of the 1968 European Cup final between Man U and Benfica, expected to make £3,000-£4,000, sold for £7,500. But the star lot was a bound volume of Bradford City home match programmes, from 1911-1912. Expected to make £1,500-£2,000, it sold for £18,000.
The 1968 European Cup final between
Man U and Benfica sold for
£7,500
Tennants, Leyburn A watercolour and gouache of goshawks attributed to Archibald Thorburn (1860-1935) led the North Yorkshire auctioneer’s recent sale when it sold for £2,600, more than 10 times the expected price.
With his extraordinary eye for detail and wonderful sense of colour, Thorburn is arguably Britain’s finest and most popular ornithological artist.
Archibald Thorburn (1860-1935)
studies of goshawks led the sale
Born in Scotland in 1860, he exhibited widely at the Royal Academy from 1880-1900. He settled in Hascombe Surrey in 1902, but regularly returned to his native Scotland.
His work was reproduced in numerous publications, most notably Coloured Figures of the Birds of the British Islands which contained nearly 270 watercolours and was carried out between 1885-1898.
14 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
