Our regular columnist Chris Yeo is away but Clevedon Salerooms report on yet another successful specialist sale…
Clevedon Salerooms held their latest Quarterly Specialist Sale on Thursday 1st September. A varied selection on offer saw some very healthy prices achieved throughout the day.
The high watermark of the sale was hit not once but twice in the Asian Art section, all in the space of two lots. A Chinese cloisonne enamel bowl had arrived in a carrier bag at the saleroom on a valuation day, having languished unloved in a cupboard under the vendor’s kitchen sink. Clevedon’s valuers sensed it could have potential and their hunch proved to be right, as a long bidding battle took it to £8,200.
In a similar story, a group of five Chinese Republican period (early 20th Century) porcelain vases achieved the same price. Finely painted and decorated with Chinese script, they had caught the eye of our valuer on a visit to the vendor’s home. He had sold one such vase years ago for a good sum, but could lightning strike twice? A resounding ‘yes’ was the answer, as £8,200 was the record for the second lot in succession.
Items with a strong local connection often prove most popular at the Salerooms. A pistol by rare local maker Joseph Callaway found its way home. The vendor had previously waivered over an offer of £1,500, but was rewarded for declining this as it sold at Clevedon for a more deserving £2,400. Also with a local flavour, a rare painted wooden diorama of a Bristol to London mail coach was the subject of strong bidding, selling for £2,800.
The Paintings section also yielded a number of strong prices. A good mid 19th Century oil on canvas of a farmer with prize bull and sheep attracted the attention of a Midlands-based specialist in animal paintings, who secured the work for a multiple-estimate £5,800.
Furniture closed the sale, and from a local Nailsea estate a beautifully primitive Windsor chair illustrated the strong demand for the best period pieces as it sold for £1,400. With some 85% sold and a total well above expectations, the sale represented another resounding success for a saleroom going from strength to strength.
clevedonsalerooms.com; @chrisyeo_antiques (Instagram)
