The predictable star at the Bishop & Miller (20% buyer’s premium) September 5 sale was the Bronze Age shield featured in ATG No 2406. This very rare c.1300-975BC shield unearthed by Suffolk detectorists near Lakenheath sold to the UK specialist trade on the lower £10,000 estimate.
A less expected highlight in Stowmarket, a mere 250 years or so old, was a pair of 8¼in (21cm) tall brass candlesticks.
Dated to c.1760, the heavily cast sticks were stamped to each corner Lloyds, the City of London coffee house which, since opening in Tower Street in 1648, has provided shipping information for its clientele of merchants, shipowners and brokers. It moved to the Royal Exchange in 1774 in its journey to becoming today’s world-famous Lloyd’s of London.
The sticks’ historical link boosted bidding to a triple-estimate £1500 from a UK collector.
