PRINKNASH ABBEY PARK, GLOUCESTERSHIRE GL4 8EU 01452 344499
SALEROOM NEWS JANUARY 2018
The Down House
COUNTRY HOUSE SALE 30 & 31 JANUARY 2018 The first sale of the year at Chorley’s on Tuesday 30 & Wednesday 31 January 2018 promises a wealth of fascinating items, mainly sourced from various country houses in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire including Treago Castle, Little Sodbury Manor, The Down House, Redmarley and a private country house close to Tetbury. The furniture section includes a fine late 18th Century mahogany serpentine front sideboard (Lot 936) which has an interesting provenance having been the property of Ethel Gordon Fenwick (nee Manson) 1857-1947. Fenwick was a British nurse and leading suffragist who played a major role in the history of nursing. She founded the Royal British Nurses’ Association in 1887 and campaigned for the state registration of nurses. This was
Little Sodbury Manor
Treago Castle
achieved through the Nurses Registration Act of 1919, when she became ‘Nurse No. 1’. In 1927, she opened the British College of Nurses of which she was President for life. In 1999 an English Heritage blue plaque was applied to her former home in Wimpole Street, London. The sideboard itself was on loan for some time to Wallington Hall, a National Trust house in Northumberland. There was a time when a piece of furniture of this quality would have achieved a huge sum of money at auction, perhaps now is the time to be buying pieces of this type with the estimate of £5,000-7,000.
Far East which was used as inspiration by silversmiths. Tea was introduced to England from China in the mid-16th century but its pivotal importance to British society did not become apparent until the mid-18th Century. Tea was expensive and at the time this caddy was made it was taxed at a whopping 119%! Thomas Heming was appointed principal goldsmith to King George III in 1760 and supplied the Coronation regalia and plate. He was removed from this post in 1782 for excessive charges. By contrast, the estimate on this caddy at £2,000-3,000 seems very reasonable for a piece of British craftsmanship which is over 250 years old.
A highlight from the silver section is Lot 64, a tea caddy by Thomas Heming, London 1753, which typifies the exuberant Rococo style which flourished in the mid-18th Century. The exotic Chinoiserie decoration reflects the growing interest in the
The country house is often good hunting ground for antique costume and textiles, and our sale includes top hats, riding boots, military swords and badges and even a suit of armour! There are several items of Coldstream Guards interest throughout the sale sections.
Lot 936
Lot 64
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AUCTION PREVIEW: Tuesday 30 & Wednesday 31 January Lot 710
Country house sales are an excellent place to look for paintings in and the interesting pictures in Chorley’s auction include a marine oil by Arthur Wellington Fowles depicting racing vessels in the waters around Ryde off the Isle of Wight, Lot 710. Fowles was born in Ryde and trained as a plumber but in 1850 he gave up his business and became a self-taught marine artist. This work, dated 1858, has been in a private Gloucestershire collection for many years and carries an estimate of £1,500-2,000. Although the picture is in need of a clean we feel that beneath the surface there is a very attractive work waiting to be revealed. Another striking oil painting is Lot 707, an oval panoramic view of the city of Bath, attributed to Irish
artist Edmund Garvey (c17401813) which carries an estimate of £800-1,200. This scene depicts Bath circa 1800 and would be recognisable to one of its most famous residents of the period, Jane Austen. Chorley’s are delighted to have been entrusted with the studio sale of wildlife artist Richard Britton. Britton, who works from his studio in the Worcestershire countryside, has been a professional artist for 44 years and has exhibited with the Society of Wildlife Artists, the Society of Eques-
trian Artists and the Pastel Society. He attended the Birmingham School of Art, where he studied portraiture, life drawing and sculpture. He is keenly aware of the need for world-wide nature conservation and he has allowed the use of some of his paintings for the promotion of environmental causes. The pictures on offer in Chorley’s auction carry estimates ranging from £50 to £500 and while the subject matter varies from racehorses to puffins, it is ‘man’s best friend’ who is best represented.
Lot 707
Lot 617
Lot 614
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Lot 461
Moving on to other areas of the auction, the market for tribal and aboriginal items has gone from strength to strength and the sale includes an aboriginal nail club, most likely coming from Queensland, Australia. Older clubs were carved to look like pandanus fruit but once horseshoe nails became available the same visual effect could be achieved more easily. These clubs could be thrown or used in hand-to-hand combat. This quirky piece, Lot 461, with an estimate of £400-600, is likely to attract bids from UK collectors as well as those down under. The book section has several ideal gifts for the sporting enthusiast including a collection of volumes relating to hunting and racing. Many of these come from the Library of Lionel Salter, who was huntsman to the Buccleuch from 1980-1987 before working in racing for Barry Hills and later running the Duke of Sutherland’s stud. A small volume entitled ‘The late Lord Henry Bentinck on Fox-
Lot 102
hounds, Goodalls Practice’ published London, c.1900, contains the preface ‘These Notes, Probably the Most Valuable Ever Penned On Their Subject, Still Outline The Best Practice in Training, Handling And Hunting Hounds’. Lot 102 is offered with two wellthumbed copies of ‘Names for Hounds’ and a few other volumes relating to fox hunting with a presale estimate of £80-120. A collection of exquisitely illustrated natural history books from the library of a country house near TetLot 146 bury brings a splash of colour, a reminder that Spring is not far away. The volumes include 18th Century bound copies of The Botanical Magazine, Lot 146, estimate £4,000-6,000. A unique hand-written book by Oscar Farmer describing the misericords in Fairford Church together with pasted-in photographs is sure to attract local interest, Lot 165. A Fairford man through and through, Farmer’s volume is a true labour of love. The word misericord comes from the Latin for pity or mercy. These hinged oak seats in the chapel tip up to form a ledge on which the monks could lean for support while standing for long periods during services. Those depicted in this book are believed to have been made for Cirencester Abbey in the time of Edward I (12721307). After the dissolution of the monastery in 1539, they were moved to Fairford, where they remain to this day. With carvings depicting often humorous domes-
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AUCTION PREVIEW: Tuesday 30 & Wednesday 31 January tic scenes such as quarrels, they are an interesting glimpse into the medieval world. As a fascinating piece of local history, this book carries an estimate of £250-350.
Lot 165
Stamp collectors will be pleased to see a whole section of the sale dedicated to the pursuit, including British penny reds and some interesting China variations. Lot 531
JANUARY SALE DETAILS Viewing: Sunday 28 January 10am-4pm Monday 29 January 9am-5pm Sale mornings 8.30am-10am
Auction: Tuesday 30 January, 10am Jewellery, Silver, Books, Glass, Ceramics, Militaria, Stamps, Miscellaneous Antiques Wednesday 31 January, 10am Pictures, Garden Statuary, Clocks, Furniture & Furnishings, Rugs All figures provided are estimates only. A buyer’s premium will be added to the hammer price and other fees may apply. Please contact us before bidding if you require further information.
Data Protection: new regulation May 2018
Changes to payment at our auctions
In May, the new legislation on data protection (GDPR) comes into force and should help to prevent the seemingly endless stream of junk mail that pops into our inboxes every day. Unsolicited emails will no longer be legal, and businesses have been advised to contact all their existing clients to obtain specific consent to hold and process their personal data used for sending out communications.
Another new piece of legislation has come into force this month in the UK, preventing businesses from passing on the processing fee for payments by credit card. Rather than stop accepting credit card payments altogether (in the light of the card processing costs we incur), we have taken the decision to limit the amount payable by credit card at each auction to £1000 per purchaser. This brings it in line with payments by cash, for which there is also a limit of £1000.
Although it means a lot of extra work, Chorley’s support this move to increase the privacy and security of personal data. We would like to assure our clients that your details are stored securely and will never be shared with a third party. We would very much like to continue to send you relevant information about our auctions and events, and hope that you still wish to receive this. To enable us to comply with GDPR, we would be very grateful if you would take a couple of minutes to send an email confirming you wish to us to continue to send you our Newsletter and notification of events at our saleroom. This email simply needs to contain your name and address and state that you give permission for Chorley’s to continue to hold and process your personal data. If you do not use email, give me a call and we’ll pop a form in the post for you to sign and return. We very much appreciate your help with this inconvenient but necessary process. Thank you. Email: catrin.hampton@chorleys.com
Chorley’s is a Member of the Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and the Association of Accredited Auctioneers
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We regret having to impose these limitations, however the card and cash processing costs charged by the banks and card machine providers are considerable. Other auctioneers may choose to overcome the problem by disguising the credit card fee within an increase to their commission, buyer’s premium or other charges, however we are reluctant to penalise all bidders by doing this and hope our alternative is more acceptable. To summarise, from January 2018, our accepted methods of payment for auction purchases are as follows: Debit Card (no fee, no maximum) Bank Transfer (no fee, no maximum) Credit Card (no fee, maximum £1000 per auction) Cash (no fee, maximum £1000 per auction) Details will be placed around our saleroom and on our website as a reminder before the auction. If you have any questions, please get in touch.
We are now accepting entries for the following sales. Please get in touch if you would like to enter any items: Tuesday 20 & Wednesday 21 March Fine Art & Antiques with Ceramics, Glass & Asian Works of Art Closing date for entries Friday 16 February Tuesday 15 & Wednesday 16 May Arts & Crafts, Modern Art & Design, Silver & Jewellery Closing date for entries Friday 13 April Live bidding online at all auctions with
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