McTear's attracts International Silver ...

Silver continues to attract much attention at auction. However, due to its relatively soft and pliable characteristics, fine jewelry created from pure silver can be easily damaged. As a result, it is commonly alloyed with other metals, usually copper, to produce a stronger precious metal. 

At our Silver, Ceramics & Glass, Asian works of Art auction earlier this week we sold various silver pieces from around the world. Two fine examples from this sale are lots 1511 and 1527:

Lot 1527 Indian Silver Bowl

Lot 1511 Indian Silver Inlaid Spittoon 

Also featured in the auction were pieces from the UK and America. American hallmarks differ from British hallmarks considerably. We can compare lot 1450, a silver cigarette box which bears the Birmingham hallmark of an anchor which sold for £120, with lot 1462, a pair of American Sterling silver candelabra which sold for £400:

Lot 1450 Silver Cigarette Box 

Lot 1462 Sterling Silver Candelabra

Again, we hope you enjoyed the Auctions in February and we look forward to seeing you in our upcoming auctions in March.

A Great End to our February Auctions!

On top of our highly successful Rare and Collectable Whisky auction on Wednesday, we've had more great sales in our Silver, Ceramics and Glass, Asian Works of Art and our Furniture and Clocks auction which has rounded up a great February auction list.

This beautiful 19th century Dutch silver tea canister with matching sugar bowl sold for £250 more than its highest estimate, reaching a hammer price of £750.

While this 19th century French gilt brass Kingwood Serpentine Vitrine sold for £1,900, after being given an estimate of between £800 and £1,200.

We hope you enjoyed our February auctions and we're looking forward to seeing you in March

McTear's February Whisky Auction Raises Over £90k!

Whisky lovers from across the globe converged on McTear's today to snap up a selection of some of the world’s rarest examples of the amber nectar.

Our February sale of rare and collectable whisky raised over £90,000 from 500 lots, with classic examples of the Macallan, Highland Park and Laphroaig attracting huge interest and big prices.

A rare 1951 Macallan was sold for £2,800 while a bottle of Laphroaig Vintage Reserve was the subject of intense bidding, eventually selling for £1,100. Highland Park also performed well with a bottle of the distillery’s Pot Still Pure Malt fetching £780, while a bottle of 1963 40 year old Bunnahabhain was snapped up for £430.

Our sale also featured a number of rare bottles of Irish whiskey. A limited edition 34 year old bottle of Coleraine was bought for £1,200 and a collection of five Cadenhead miniatures was sold for a whopping £900.

MD Brian Clements said “It was a great sale with some fantastic bottles going under the hammer, over the past few years the McTear’s whisky auctions have built up an international following with the regular sales featuring some of the finest whiskies on the planet.”

Lot 664: Laphroaig Vintage Reserve

Mctear's Scottish Contemporary Art Auction

This specialist sale on Tuesday 21st February is dedicated to contemporary pictures and will feature outstanding examples from many of Scotland's most prominent and collectable living artists.

McTear's Scottish Contemporary Art Auctions are held every ten weeks and feature approximately 400 paintings from private collectors as well as brand new work from selected artists. This unique format was started in 2008 and soon established McTear’s as the single largest outlet in the world for contemporary Scottish paintings.

Here is a small selection of the pieces available at our next auction:

FRANK COLCLOUGH WINTER STILL LIFE oil on board, signed 30cm x 25cm 

LAETITIA GUILBAUD READY FOR TAKE OFF acrylic on canvas,signed 40cm x 30cm

ALAN KING PAI DA STUDY FOR STRIPES oil on panel, signed 21cm x 7cm

You can view the auction catalogue in full here