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The Buyers Are Back

More than £175,000 worth of fine art and antiques changed hands in premier Surrey auctioneers Ewbank Clarke Gammon Wellers’ quarterly Autumn sale on September 23-24 with private buyers picking up the choice pieces, notably in porcelain, silver, furniture and works of art.

“The market has adjusted to levels that are making buyers come back to the salerooms,” said auctioneer Chris Ewbank. “They are saying ‘What’s the point of leaving money in the bank where it’s earning interest of less than half of one per cent’ and they are buying things that they can enjoy and will likely increase in value.”

Selling rates were impressive, best of which was in silver, where 96 per cent of what was offered found buyers. In furniture, the figure was 76 per cent and in works of art, 87 per cent. A total of 964 commission bids were placed by buyers unable to attend the sale, which is more than one bid per lot, and 236 lots sold for prices above the pre-sale estimates. Internet buyers numbered 41, attracted to the sale through the auctioneer’s recently re-launched website, www.ewbankauctions.co.uk, which registered 115,000 page views in the three weeks prior to the sale.

Biggest reward of the sale went to the Surrey seller of a group of bronze sculptures by Irish-American artist Linda Brunker, which sold for a total of £12,050. Pick among them was Foliose” a near life-size figure which depicted a kneeling woman, formed by a mantle of oak leaves which seem to have drifted over her as she crouches protectively over a tiny oak sapling. It sold to a private collector from the East Midlands for £6,000.

The others included “A Wave Forming”, a female figure formed by starfish and the fronds of seaweed, which sold for £1,750; “Homeward”, a face looking skyward, formed by the abstract shapes of birds’ wings and “Siren”; a solid bronze depicting a birdlike female, her wings folded about her body, each of which sold for £1,500. “Resting Oak Dryad”, a figure formed by leaves, the subject crouching clutching her knees while standing on tip toes on the exposed roots of the tree, sold for £1.300. All four were purchased by the same Surrey collector.

Linda Brunker (b. 1966) has been a full time sculptor since graduating from the National College of Art and Design, in Dublin in 1988 in Ireland. She emigrated to the U.S. in 2005, where her innovative style of bronze casting astonished not only the foundry where she worked but also the public who rushed to buy her sculptures.

Her work is typically based on the human figure and has a strong ecological and spiritual quality. Natural elements such as leaves and feathers are intricately woven together to create elegant figures "composed into flowing shapes which echo the rhythms of wind, fire and water" which are then cast in bronze.

She has done several large commissions including “The People’s Counsil”, City Hall, Laguna Beach 2006, “Signal&rdquuo;, commissioned by RTE in Dublin 1996 and many others. Her works are in various collections worldwide and she has had many solo and group exhibitions.

A pair of 19th century French bronze figures, modelled as Cupid and Psyche, on circular gilt metal bases, from a London vendor sold to a Brighton dealer for £1,350 against an estimate of £500-800 and with gold continuing to be regarded as a safe haven in times of economic difficulty, a King George VI Coronation gold medal 1937 engraved for the Royal Mint by P. Metcalf sold for £1,900.

A superb service of St Louis crystal drinking glasses decorated with the Thistle pattern was another toast of the sale, selling to another private Surrey buyer for £3,600. The suite of 76 pieces comprised decanter and stopper, jug, 12 claret, 11 each of white wine, water and highball, eight each of cocktail and liqueur and six each of dessert wine and six whiskey tumblers.

Close behind at £3,500 was a painting by Arthur Hayward (1889-1970) which showed yachts and fishing boats in a work titled 'The End of the Pier, St. Ives'. Signed and inscribed, the oil on board, measuring 10.5 x 8.5in sold to a Devon collector for £3,500.

A portrait of a seated woman in a red shawl, holding a string of pearls, an unsigned watercolour measuring 29 x 21in overturned its pre-sale estimate to sell to an Internet bidder for £3,400, while from a Leicester home was “Two-masted boat and buildings” and “Boat on a coloured ground”, both by Jack Pender, British (1918-1998) which sold for £1,100 and £1,050 respectively. The former was purchased by a London collector, while the second was won by a buyer from Devon. A drawing by Leon Kossoff (b. 1926) the British expressionist painter who is a contemporary of Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud sold to a Swedish buyer for £1.500. Study after Poussin II had been torn into pieces at some time by the artist but subsequently skillfully restored and sold by a London dealer.

In ceramics, a Wedgwood part dinner service from a Berkshire home was decorated with the 'Astbury' pattern, all with a broad black band of neo-classical decoration. The service comprised a circular tureen and cover; 20 plates ranging in size from dinner to side; three twin-handled soup bowls and stands, six coffee cups, which were sold with a Wedgwood 'Caernarvon' pattern sucrier and cover and a Solian Ware twin-handled dish and cover on stand. The service was estimated at £200-300 but sold to a Middlesex private buyer for £1,150.

Chris Ewbank said the selection of furniture in the sale was one of the best received at the saleroom for some time, the most exotic piece commanding the highest price of the day. An elegant circular dining table was crafted from Russian Karelian birch, a wood with a grain pattern that mimics marble, made by leading furniture makers Titchmarsh & Goodwin. Making it more desirable was its six concentric extending leaves. From a local home, the table sold to a Surrey dealer for an above top estimate £2,700.

An equally exotic and elaborately carved mid-19th century Anglo-Indian rosewood chaise longue sold to a London trade buyer for £2,100 against an estimate of £500-800. The back rail of the seat was carved as a dragon, while the rest was extensively carved with foliage, flowers and animals. In completely contrasting taste was a pair of French Empire style mahogany armchairs, with upholstered backs, arms and seats, the arms with scroll carved decoration and lions mask terminals which sold to a South Coast dealer for £1,800.

In English furniture, a set of 10 early 19th century mahogany dining chairs with carved C-scroll carved rails from a Kent home which had been estimated at £800-1,200 sold to a Surrey buyer for £2,500. A 19th century mahogany extending dining table on turned reeded and tapering legs with two extra leaves sold for £1,700 and a charming William IV rosewood circular teapoy, with domed hinged cover, and lobed body on a turned and carved column sold to the same Brighton buyer on top estimate for £1,200.

An Aberdeen clock collector might have been expected to repatriate an early 19th century mahogany Scottish eight-day longcase clock by Robert Stewart of Glasgow but instead, the clock with typical circular white enamelled dial and subsidiary date and seconds dials from a Hampshire home sold to a Nottinghamshire buyer for an above top estimate £1,600. The Scottish collector, meanwhile, secured an imposing 18th century mahogany longcase by London maker William Carter with brass dial, subsidiary seconds and date dials and a day/night dial in the broken arch, for which he paid £2,500.

However, a Chinese collector bidding on the Internet could not resist a good 19th century silver plated brass and enamelled clock garniture decorated in the Japanese manner with oriental figures and foliage and ormolu mounts in the form of elephants’ heads. The clock had a twin train movement striking on a bell by Japy Freres and sold for £1,500.

Entries are always welcome for Victorian and later auctions at Ewbank Clarke Gammon Wellers, the next of which will be held on October 7 and 21 and November 4 and 18 and for the saleroom’s Winter antiques and fine art auction on December 9. For further information, please contact the auctioneer on 01483 223101 or antiques@ewbankauctions.co.uk.