The sales series at Hutchinson Scott in Skipton on April 16-19 features the retirement collection of the Warwick dealers Patrick and Gilian Morley.
The lots include this George III serpentine tulipwood and marquetry commode attributed to the Swedish emigré craftsmen Christopher Fuhrlohg (d. 1790). At the start of his London career, he worked for John and William Linnell before opening his own Tottenham Court Road workshops.
George III serpentine tulipwood and marquetry commode attributed to the Swedish emigré craftsmen Christopher Fuhrlohg, estimate £3000-5000 at Hutchinson Scott.
Fuhrlohg’s own furniture and the stock-in-trade of his Gerrard Street house was sold by Christie’s on February 21, 1787.
This commode, dated to c.1770, is estimated at £3000-5000.
Manchester United coloured poster signed outside Norbreck Hotel, Blackpool, 1964, estimate £500-700 at James and Sons.
James and Sons’ Sporting Memorabilia auction on April 9 in Fakenham, Norfolk, features Manchester United programmes, tickets, ephemera, documents including contracts and trophies among the lots.
Shown here is a Red Devils coloured poster signed outside Norbreck Hotel, Blackpool, 1964, estimate £500-700.
Victorian aigrette brooch formed as a swallow in flight, estimate £2000-3000 at David Duggleby.
This Victorian aigrette brooch formed as a swallow in flight is set with old cut and rose cut diamonds and cabochon ruby eyes. The screw back fittings allow it to be used as a brooch or as a hair pin. It is expected to bring £2000-3000 at David Duggleby in Scarborough on April 4.
Trophy relating to the 1938 Empire Exhibition football tournament, inscribed for a Celtic FC player, estimate £4000-6000 at McTear’s.
This rare piece of Celtic FC history relates to the 1938 Empire Exhibition football tournament contested in Glasgow between Aberdeen, Celtic, Hearts, Rangers, Brentford, Chelsea, Sunderland and Everton.
It is modelled in the form of an assayed sterling silver Exhibition’s Tait or Festival Tower, over an ebonised plinth base mounted with a plaque inscribed THE EMPIRE EXHIBITION SCOTLAND, 1938 FOOTBALL TROPHY WON BY CHAS GEATONS.
After seeing off Sunderland and Hearts, the final was contested in front of 82,000 fans at Ibrox. An extra-time goal from Celtic’s Johnny Crum secured the victory against Everton.
This competition, and later the Coronation Cup competition, allowed clubs to test themselves against other leagues before the introduction of regular European competitions.
Charles ‘Chic’ Geatons won the Scottish Football League twice (1935-36 and 1937-38) with Celtic, his only club, and the Scottish Cup three times (1931, 1933 and 1937).
The trophy is estimated at £4000-6000 in McTear’s April 11 auction in Glasgow. The sale features an extensive group of Celtic medals: 70 honours dating back to 1888, the year the club was formed.
Carter Stabler Adams era dish decorated with the Cocky Ollie Bird, estimate £200-300 at Spink.
Dorset auction house Cottees offers 270 lots of Poole Pottery on April 6. Estimated at £200-300, this rare Carter Stabler Adams era dish is decorated with the Cocky Ollie Bird.
A 1956 US poster for sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet, estimate £4000-6000 at Spink.
The sale of Original Vintage Film Posters at Spink in London on April 5 includes this 1956 US printing for sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet. The film, based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, was notable for introducing cinema goers to Robby the Robot who takes centre stage in the 22in x 2ft 2in (56 x 71cm) poster.
Estimate £4000-6000.
Mural once painted on a wall, to be offered as ‘Ben Nicholson, Untitled Mural, May 1947’ with an estimate of £40,000-80,000 at Lay's.
A mural painted on a wall inside a Surrey cottage which starred in an episode of BBC’s Fake or Fortune? is to be offered for auction. Aired in 2022, the episode investigated whether the artwork was by Modern British artist Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) or his friend Frederick Staite Murray.
Staite Murray (1888-1972), brother of ceramicist William Staite Murray (1981-1962), was an engineer and, together with his wife Madge, became enthusiastic collectors and patrons to the celebrated Modern British artists of the time.
The mural was painted onto the wall of Staite Murray’s home, Red Stream Cottage in Bramley, Surrey, and in the TV show was deemed a one-off collaboration between Nicholson and Murray.
It will be offered at Lay’s Cornish Art & Fine Art sale on April 11. Lay’s says that in May 1947 Nicholson was holding an important retrospective of his work at the Lefevre Gallery in London, for which he asked to borrow five of his early works from Fred and Madge, almost half of their collection.
Lay’s says it is “not implausible to think that having stripped their walls of so many paintings, Nicholson painted the mural to show his appreciation, one that merged elements of his current work, and of the paintings he had taken away”.
During the Staite Murrays’ time at the cottage, the room where it was painted also featured an alabaster sculpture by Barbara Hepworth.
Lay’s, commenting on Fake or Fortune?, said: “Although some of the Nicholson specialists consulted for the programme felt that the work was a collaboration between Nicholson and Fred, the programme’s researchers made an emphatic case for the mural being by the single hand of Nicholson, a gift for his good friends the Staite Murrays. The weight of evidence and provenance revealed made fascinating and compelling viewing.”
The current owners have had the mural expertly removed and preserved and it will be offered as ‘Ben Nicholson, Untitled Mural, May 1947’ with an estimate of £40,000-80,000.
Art Deco silver tantalus reputedly given by actress Dame Gracie Fields to film director Basil Dean, estimate £1500-2500 at Elstob.
A personal gift reputedly given by actress Dame Gracie Fields (1898-1979) to film director Basil Dean (1888-1978) is on offer at Elstob Auctioneers of Ripon on April 10.
The Art Deco silver tantalus is engraved To Basil with love from Gracie and was made by George Betjemann & Sons, London, 1930. It holds three clear and amber cut-glass decanters and has a guide price of £1500-2500.
Fields was one of the top 10 film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was reputedly the highest paid movie star in the world in 1937. She featured in a number of films directed by Dean, including the 1934 musical Sing As We Go and the comedy Look Up and Laugh (1935). The pair also came together during the Second World War, when Fields signed up for the Entertainments National Service Association headed up by Dean.
Dean was an eminent actor, writer, producer and director for theatre and cinema. He founded the Liverpool Repertory Company in 1911 and in his later career produced and directed mostly in the West End. As well as Fields, he worked with an ‘A list’ of stars including John Gielgud, Noel Coward and Vivien Leigh – many of whom spoke about his bullying and hardline ruthlessness that was often credited with drawing out excellent performances.
Watercolour by Frederic, Lord Leighton, estimate £2000-3000 at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.
This watercolour by Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830-96) has an estimate of £2000-3000 at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood in Exeter on April 16-17.
The view of a Gothic city (probably based on Frankfurt where Leighton attended the Städelsches Kunstinstitut from 1846-47) was intended as an illustration for a copy of Paradise Lost.
The scene refers to Book IV of John Milton’s 17th century poem although the calligraphed inscription – probably by Leighton’s own hand – has somewhat altered the verses, changing ‘sapphires’ to ‘fire’, and ‘clouded’ to ‘cloudy’.
Plate from Inscriptions on the Seikh Guns Captured by the Army of the Sutledge, estimate £4000-6000 at Cheffins.
This rare publication from the time of the First Sikh War (1845-46) is titled Inscriptions on the Seikh Guns Captured by the Army of the Sutledge.
It features 64 hand-coloured lithographed plates depicting the decorative patterns and Persian inscriptions, copied from guns manufactured between 1801-39 at the instigation of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Housed in detached morocco boards with gilt lettering, it is expected to sell for £4000-6000 at The Library Sale at Cheffins in Cambridge on April 4.
Symbols of Sikh military power, the majority of the 256 guns that were captured during the conflict were melted down. However, a few of the most ornate pieces were sent to Britain and are still present in collections held by the Royal Arsenal, the Royal Hospital and Dover Castle.
Small Green Landscape by Peter Lanyon, estimate £10,000-12,000 at Canterbury Auction Galleries.
Paintings from the estate of actor Peter Barkworth (1929-2006) come for sale at Canterbury Auction Galleries on April 12, 13 and 15.
Barkworth, who performed a host of stage, film and TV roles in the 1960s-70s, was a passionate collector. When he died, he bequeathed 55 works to the National Trust to be hung at Fenton House, London, a few minutes’ walk from his home in Hampstead’s historic Flask Walk. But he kept hold of his favourites, leaving most to his partner David Wyn Jones, who died last year.
Works by Ivon Hitchens, Samuel Peploe, LS Lowry and William Scott are joined by this 6in (15cm) square gouache and collage by Peter Lanyon (1918-64) acquired from the Redfern Gallery in 1986. Dated c.1963, Small Green Landscape is among the works Lanyon produced based on his experience as a glider piolet.
Estimate £10,000-12,000.
thecanterburyauctiongalleries.com
Rolex square cased 18k pink gold chronograph, the Precision ‘Gabus’ Ref 8206, c.1945, estimate £20,000-30,000 at Lyon & Turnbull.
This Rolex square cased 18k pink gold chronograph, the Precision ‘Gabus’ Ref 8206, dates from c.1945. It was acquired by the consigner’s father in Aden (now Yemen) while emigrating from Southampton to Brisbane in 1965 on the Turbine Steamship Fairsky.
According to auction house Lyon & Turnbull, only 11 other examples of the Rolex Ref 8206 have appeared publicly at auction since 1992 and of those, only three feature a tachometer designation matching this one. An almost identical example of Ref 8206 in yellow gold with silvered dial can be found in Chronograph Rolex, The Legend by Pucci Papaleo, describing the model (in Italian) as a “magnificent and unobtainable chronograph”.
This example has an estimate of £20,000-30,000 as part of a jewellery and watches sale in London on April 16.
Regency goncalo alves, white marble and parcel gilt breakfront cabinet by George Bullock, estimate £6000-8000 at Woolley & Wallis.
This Regency goncalo alves, white marble and parcel gilt breakfront cabinet by George Bullock has a guide of £6000-8000 at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury on April 16-18.
Unusually stamped for the maker to each of the seven drawers, the cabinet features the same grille design as a pair of bookcases made for Napoleon and that appear in the ‘Plans and elevations for St Helena’, dated November 1815.
It has a paper exhibition label for The BADA Art Treasures Exhibition, Bath, 1958, where it was exhibited by Boswell & Ward.
