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AUCTION Round up AROUND the HOUSES This month’s round up includes the war medals of Group Captain Peter Townsend and the wedding ring of doomed poet and author Sylvia Plath The mahogany sideboard table sold for £12,000 TENNANTS, LEYBURN A colourful patchwork suit worn by the largerthan-life comedian Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown, with a pre-sale estimate of £400-£600, sold for £400 at the North Yorkshire auctioneer’s July 30 sale. Middlesbroughborn Brown, was known for his bawdy and often offensive comedy and his clown-like stage costume consisting of a bright patchwork suit and slippers topped with a leather flying cap and goggles. At a previous sale, an oil on canvas by the Croatian artist Nikola Mašic (1852-1902), with an estimate of £1,200-£1,800, sparked a bidding war before finally selling for £9,500. Characteristic of Mašic’s work, Goat Herders at Rest Before a Rustic Cottage depicted a scene of idyllic rural life. Mašic studied painting in Vienna, Munich and Paris, and was a professor of drawing in Zagreb from 1884 until his death. The patchwork suit was as colourful as the comedian’s repartee CHEFFINS, CAMBRIDGE A mahogany sideboard table, in the manner of Thomas Hope (1769–1831), from c. 1810, fetched £12,000 at the East Anglian auctioneer’s recent sale, against an estimate of £7,000-£10,000. Supported by four lion monopodia with an elaborate brass gallery, the table was, at one time, part of the furnishings of Balls Park in Hertfordshire. Dutch-born Hope was influential as a designer and collector whose work helped define the Regency style. His extensive Grand Tour travels in Europe, Turkey and Egypt inspired his interest in antiquities as a source of designs for Regency interiors, furniture and metalwork. The rural idyll was typical of the Croatian artist’s work The giant chess set was created to celebrate the Millenium EWBANK’S, WOKING A single edition giant chess set by the English studio potter John Maltby (1936-2020) sold for £9,0000 at the Surrey auction house’s recent sale, against an estimate of £4,000-£4,500. Created for the Millennium celebrations at the New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham, each figure has a distinctive, heart-shaped face and bears a shield. They are also individually impressed with a JM seal to the base. At 61 x 61cm, the board itself is of considerable size and set with ceramic tiles. Maltby, who died in December at the age of 85, was greatly inspired by the renowned potter Bernard Leach, working as an apprentice to Leach’s son, David. In 1964, he set up his own studio in Crediton, Devon, establishing a global reputation. His work can be found in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, among others. 10 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
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DAWSON’S, MAIDENHEAD A rare 1972 Rolex GMT Master ‘Pepsi’ more than doubled its low estimate to sell for £16,500 at the Berkshire auction house’s recent sale. Its adventurous owner, who wore the watch on travels around the world – surviving a time in a war zone and mugging, decided it was time for a new home. The “Pepsi” Rolex is highly sought after by watch aficianados “Pepsi” became the watch’s nickname due to its bright red-and-blue bezel’s resemblance to the logo of the American soft drinks company. Che Guevara was reportedly wearing a Rolex ‘Pepsi’ 1675 when he was captured and executed in Bolivia in 1967. WILSON55, NANTWICH An 18th-century Flemish collector’s cabinet sold for more than five times its low estimate of £5,000, when it realised £26,840 at the Cheshire auctioneer’s recent sale. The ebonised and tortoiseshell veneered piece came from the contents of Norton Priory, Warrington – demolished in the late 1920s, – and included card labels with the name Sir Richard Brooke written in pencil. In 1920 the house contents were sold at auction and the cabinet descended down the same farming family for the last century. On four cabriole legs with animal paw feet, the piece opens to reveal an interior, veneered in floral scagliola, with 10 drawers. The Odundo pots, with combined low pre-sale estimate of £8,000, made a total of £143,750 LAWRENCES, CREWKERNE Two pots by one of the world’s most renowned ceramicists, the Kenyan-born potter Magdalene Odundo sold for a total of £143,750 at the Somerset auctioneer’s recent sale. Part of a private collection from a local couple, the first was a large, coil-built terracotta vessel, with an oval-shaped neck. Inspired by an exaggerated African angular coiffeur, with a globular body and 34cms high, the pot, which had an estimate of £5,000-£7,000, sold for £117,500, while the second vessel – expected to make £3,000-£5,000 – made £16,250. The collector’s cabinet came from Norton Priory, Warrington BISHOP AND MILLER, STOWMARKET A hand-printed board of the 18th-century Indian version of snakes and ladders smashed its estimate of £300-£500 to sell for £5,600 at the Suffolk auctioneer’s inaugural explorer sale. Originating in the the western state of Maharashtra, the aim of the game gyanbazi is to achieve supreme Brahman status while avoiding being sent to hell. The Indian board game, dated to c.1800, snaked past its low estimate ROGER JONES, CARDIFF A oil on canvas by Sir Kyffin Williams (1918-2006) broke the Welsh auction house’s own previous world record when it sold for £62,000. Titled Ynys Mon and depicting the village of Rhoscolyn in Anglesey with a farmer, dog and chapel, the painting had a low pre-sale estimate of £50,000. The previous record for a painting by the Welsh artist, set by the auction house, was £60,000. According to Welsh fine art auctioneer Ben Rogers Jones it had the ‘holy trinity’ of chapel, farmer and village. It was bought by private collector from the south of England with strong local connections to the village featured. The painting broke the auction house’s previous record for a work by Kyffin Williams ANTIQUE COLLECTING 11

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AUCTION Round up

AROUND the HOUSES

This month’s round up includes the war medals of Group Captain Peter Townsend and the wedding ring of doomed poet and author Sylvia Plath

The mahogany sideboard table sold for £12,000

TENNANTS, LEYBURN A colourful patchwork suit worn by the largerthan-life comedian Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown, with a pre-sale estimate of £400-£600, sold for £400 at the North Yorkshire auctioneer’s July 30 sale.

Middlesbroughborn Brown, was known for his bawdy and often offensive comedy and his clown-like stage costume consisting of a bright patchwork suit and slippers topped with a leather flying cap and goggles.

At a previous sale, an oil on canvas by the Croatian artist Nikola Mašic (1852-1902), with an estimate of £1,200-£1,800, sparked a bidding war before finally selling for £9,500.

Characteristic of Mašic’s work, Goat Herders at Rest Before a Rustic Cottage depicted a scene of idyllic rural life. Mašic studied painting in Vienna, Munich and Paris, and was a professor of drawing in Zagreb from 1884 until his death.

The patchwork suit was as colourful as the comedian’s repartee

CHEFFINS, CAMBRIDGE A mahogany sideboard table, in the manner of Thomas Hope (1769–1831), from c. 1810, fetched £12,000 at the East Anglian auctioneer’s recent sale, against an estimate of £7,000-£10,000.

Supported by four lion monopodia with an elaborate brass gallery, the table was, at one time, part of the furnishings of Balls Park in Hertfordshire.

Dutch-born Hope was influential as a designer and collector whose work helped define the Regency style.

His extensive Grand Tour travels in Europe, Turkey and Egypt inspired his interest in antiquities as a source of designs for Regency interiors, furniture and metalwork.

The rural idyll was typical of the Croatian artist’s work

The giant chess set was created to celebrate the Millenium

EWBANK’S, WOKING A single edition giant chess set by the English studio potter John Maltby (1936-2020) sold for £9,0000 at the Surrey auction house’s recent sale, against an estimate of £4,000-£4,500.

Created for the Millennium celebrations at the New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham, each figure has a distinctive, heart-shaped face and bears a shield. They are also individually impressed with a JM seal to the base. At 61 x 61cm, the board itself is of considerable size and set with ceramic tiles.

Maltby, who died in December at the age of 85, was greatly inspired by the renowned potter Bernard Leach, working as an apprentice to Leach’s son, David.

In 1964, he set up his own studio in Crediton, Devon, establishing a global reputation. His work can be found in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, among others.

10 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

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