AUCTION Sales round up

The art deco bracelet owned by Princess Margaret sold for

£396,800

A female nude in pastel sold for £2,600 against the same pre-sale guide

AROUND the HOUSES

We review the latest sales, including a record-breaking printed book by a woman and an in-demand

Howard & Sons sofa

DIX NOONAN WEBB, MAYFAIR An art deco pearl and diamond bracelet owned and worn by Princess Margaret on her 19th-birthday photograph by Cecil Beaton in 1949, sold for £396,800 more than 10 times its low estimate of £30,000 at the London auctioneers.

Comprised of a double row of cultured pearls and pearl openwork geometric clasp, it dates to c. 1925. Dix Noonan Webb’s, Frances Noble, said: “Princess Margaret was photographed wearing this bracelet on numerous occasions.”

The half nude by Evelyn de Morgan sold for

£1,250 – over double its £500

low estimate

HANSONS, LONDON Two signed, pencil and pastel sketches of a woman by Evelyn de Morgan (1855-1919), an important second generation PreRaphaelite, sold for £3,850 at the London saleroom’s recent sale.

A half-length study of a female nude in pastel made £1,250, against an estimate of £500-£800; while a female nude in pastel sold for £2,600 against the same pre-sale guide.

Having graduated from the Slade School of Art, de Morgan produced hundreds of figure studies on grey wove paper in pencil and pastel. She was particularly praised for her superb depiction of hands and arms.

12 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Beaton’s image of the princess was published on her birthday on August 21, 1949

BRUUN RASMUSSEN AUCTIONEERS, COPENHAGEN A never-before released 33-minute recording of an interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono sold for £55,500 (DKK 481,000) at the Swedish auction house’s recent sale.

The tape included Lennon’s rendition of the never-released song Radio

Peace

The tape, made during the couple’s winter visit to Thy in north Jutland in 1970, records an interview between the pair and four 16-year-old Danish schoolboys for the local school magazine.

One of schoolboys, Karsten Højen, now 68, said: “The meeting with John Lennon and Yoko Ono had a great impact on our personal lives because we considered them as sort of political prophets and symbols of peace.”

The tape was accompanied by several photographs from the auspicious encounter. At one point on the tape Lennon picks up a guitar and sings Give Peace a Chance and the unreleased song Radio Peace.