Under the Hammer: More news of what is making the salerooms buzz from Kevin Lines of Keys Fine Art Auctioneers of Aylsham, the leading East Anglian fine art and antiques auction house.
Two special sales in February drew big crowds and brisk bidding to our salerooms in Aylsham. The month started with our first Jewellery, Silver and Watches sale of the year which saw more than 700 lots go under the hammer, with some hammer prices spectacularly above pre-sale estimates.
A few days later saw our newly-refurbished Fine Arts saleroom host its first auction – the Royal Society of Marine Artists Diploma Collection Sale, the biggest, and certainly the most important, body of British marine art ever to go under the hammer anywhere. With a packed saleroom, busy phone lines, a big roster of commission bids and brisk online bidding, the sale saw collectors and dealers vying to own some of the best British marine art produced in the 20th century.
Featured sold items:
'Barges Reaching out of Hole Haven, Canvey Island in the Thames Estuary', an oil on canvas by Charles Pears (1873-1958), which sold for £8,200 (estimate £4,000-£6,000).
'Two Boats, Mannin Bay', an oil on canvas by Donald McIntyre (1923-2009), which sold for £5,800 (estimate £3,000-£4,000).
'Nelson Boarding the Victory at Portsmouth', an oil on canvas by Bernard Finegan Gribble (1873-1962), which sold for £5,600 (estimate £1,500-£2,000).
'Endeavour Leaving Plymouth', an oil on canvas by Geoff Hunt (b 1948), which sold for £5,400 (estimate £2,000-£3,000).
'Start of the Tall Ships Race, 11 August 1962', an oil on canvas by Leslie Arthur Wilcox (1904-1982), which sold for £5,200 (estimate £5,000-£8,000).
A Victorian hallmarked silver and enamelled vesta case, with a cover decorated with a hand holding a Royal flush in the suit of clubs and a gilt-lined interior includes with a striker, which sold for £180 (estimate £80-£100).
A late 19th-century Japanese vesta case modelled in the form of a male figure in robes with hinged lid and with signature symbol, with striker to the base, which sold for £110 (estimate £30-£40).
A small 19th-century framed sampler, its ebonised circular case with floral and ring mount to a glazed circular panel set with a needlework depicting roses and violets, which sold for £440 (estimate £30-£40)
A modern precious metal necklace, its articulated rectangular graduated links having a burnished design connected by graduated square links to a box catch, which sold for £290 (estimate £240-£280).
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