Antiques World'spicks for the weeks ahead
Wotton Auction Rooms' two-day sale in the South Cotswolds on Tuesday and Wednesday has suffered slightly from the snow that has hit that part of the world over the past weeks, but there will still be some 1,100 lots on offer. The contents of a big house in Hay on Wye include everything from an oak bookcase by the significant inter-war Art Deco designer Betty Joel for the Token works in Portsmouth (£600-£800) to a rather moth-eaten looking stuffed and mounted golden labrador, which Philip Taubenheim and his team hope will attract a bid of up to £150 from the legion of lovers of stuffed and mounted golden labradors. Of more universal appeal is this oil painting of the mountains of Connemara by Maurice Canning Wilkes (1910-1984), a very well regarded Belfast-born landscape artist whose collectability soared in the great Irish art boom of a few years ago. That's calmed down a bit in recent years, but we could still be looking at £3,000-£3,500 here.
Golfers and cyclists feature on two Doulton stoneware mugs to be sold at Lawrences of Crewkerne's April sporting sale, made at the company's Lambeth factory in around 1900 and duly influenced by Art Nouveau. The golf mug has panels labelled The Drive and The Lost Ball, while there are three cycling panels – Military, Road and Path – with both male and female riders. Not surprisingly, the two are being sold in separate lots to attract collectors in both fields, and it is expected that each could fetch anything from £200 to £400.
A house clearance this winter had its frustrations for Tamlyn and Son of Bridgwater, since damp damage had put several early games and postcards beyond hope. Among the survivors, however, was this little box of indoor fireworks by Standard, and while some of them have been used, quite a few are still in their original wrappings. It will possibly sell for £20-£30, not least because of the happy family on the lid. Daddy even looks to have dressed up in white tie and tails for the pyrotechnics, though perhaps he's got an engagement to go on to with some very important men, while nurse puts the kiddies to bed and mummy reads her magazine.
This nine-carat gold clown pendant, around 7.5cm high, articulated and set with diamonds, rubies and sapphires, is estimated at £400-£600 along with its nine-carat belcher chain at Dreweatts 1759 Bristol's jewellery and silver sale at Apsley Road, Clifton on February 9. The sale also includes watches, coins and objects of vertu, and can be viewed a week today from 9.30am to 1pm and on February 8, 9.30am-6pm.
Gardiner Houlgate's next big watch and clock sale at Corsham on February 25 and 26 includes this collection of pocket watch keys from the 18th and 19th centuries. Always collectable, they are to be sold in about 30 lots, with estimates from £50 right up to £300. This auction house prides itself on its horology sales, and in the past year it has sold two rare Rolex specimens for £55,000 and £14,000 after they had been bought for £1,000 and £500 respectively. Auctioneers David Hare and Jamie South will be accepting entries for the February sale until January 29.
A rare 1997 first edition of Damien Hirst's book I Want to Spend the Rest of My Life Everywhere, with Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now goes under the hammer at Dominic Winter's sale at South Cerney on Thursday with an estimate of £500. As you might imagine, it's an off-beat piece of work, with pop-ups, gatefolds, overlays, moveable parts, die-cuts, bits of ephemera and other bizarre features, all of them still in working order. It's a book that's been described as everything from extravagant to innovative and provocative, but then again, that's the way people have been talking about Hirst's work generally for years. It was published at a time when he was looking for new ways to express himself; very shortly after its release he was getting together with fellow Cotswold personalities Alex James of Blur and the actor Keith Allen to form Fat Les, whose raucous football anthem Vindaloo went to Number 2 in the charts.
The glitzy Los Angeles jewellers Etoile, much loved and publicised by those working in that city's suburb of Hollywood, are responsible for this far from understated bangle watch set with emeralds and diamonds. It's for sale at the Plaza stand at the Tortworth Court antiques and fine art fair, which runs from February 26 to 28, and word has it that it could be yours for £4,500. This is the latest incarnation of the Antiques Dealers Fair Ltd's event previously held in autumn at Cheltenham Racecourse. It's not as big, with some 27 stands, but it could not be more conveniently situated for motorway travellers, just a couple of minutes from M5 junction 14 at Falfield.













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