Postcards get stamp of approval at sale
A collection of more than 2,000 postcards ranging from a rare signed portrait of a young Sir Winston Churchill to cartoons and 20th century theatrical personalities sold for £2,800 at a Shropshire fine art auction last week.
The collection, assembled from several owners, went under the hammer on the second day of auctioneers Halls' £300,000 two-day country house auction in Shrewsbury.
Top seller, at £800, was a lot containing a large quantity of early 20th century postcards relating to cities and towns in the West Midlands, Cheshire, the Isle of Man, Dublin and the 1905 Australian cricket team.
An early signed photographic postcard portrait of a young Sir Winston Churchill sold for £550. "For Churchill collectors, simply the date of the photograph holds enough interest alone, possibly being the earliest known portrait of him to feature on a postcard," said Caroline Dennard from Halls.
Dining tables and sets of chairs were in keen demand. A mahogany twin pillar dining table sold for £3,000 while a set of 18 mahogany framed dining chairs made £5,000.
Other eye-catching furniture included a late 19th century French walnut and gilt metal mounted bijouterie table at £3,600 and a Victorian wind-out extending dining table at £1,900.
The brown furniture section produced a series of positive results including £2,600 for an early 18th century and later walnut feather banded cabinet on chest, £2,200 for a George III mahogany bowfront chest on chest, £1,850 for a pair of French marble ormolu mounted and walnut open bookcases, £1,600 for an Edwardian mahogany and inlaid bedroom suite, £1,300 for an 18th century Welsh vernacular oak table cabinet and £1,150 for an Edwardian mahogany and satinwood display cabinet.
Pick of the clocks and barometers was an early 19th century rosewood and brass strung bracket clock by Frodsham, London, which achieved its top pre-sale estimate of £1,000. A 19th century stick barometer made £900 and a George III mahogany longcase clock by Thomas Kenerdell, Wigan sold for £640.
As expected in a country house auction, there was a wide selection of antiques on offer. A collection of Lalique glass sold for nearly £2,000, while a pair of silvered bronze and ormolu figure groups made £1,100 and a pair of late 19th century French rouge marble column pedestals fetched £950.
A cased over and under F. N Browning shotgun made £1,050 and an over and under Beretta sold for £700.
Other notable prices were £650 for a two-handed 16th century German processional sword and £600 for Lieutenant Colonel James Russell's diary documenting the Flanders campaign from 1793-'96.
Halls' fine art director Jeremy Lamond said: "We had a sale topping £50,000 result for a Chinese Empress vase on the first day and the strong results continued into the second day when the furniture market showed welcome signs of a revival in fortunes."
