As part of our special auctions that occur every five weeks, our Scottish Contemporary Art Auction on the 22nd June saw many attractive and desirable paintings go under the hammer, with a good few reaching and exceeding their auction estimates.

In particular, this eerie looking oil on hardboard by John Bellany showing a peculiar looking man playing an accordion sold for a fantastic £24,000. Bellany is a highly respected Scottish painter with many of successful paintings and a unique style in this field. This particular piece had never been publicly exhibited or offered at auction before appearing at McTear’s and definitely caused a lot of excitement in the auction house. It was noted that “The Accordionist” was painted not long after Bellany’s trip to Buchenwald where he encountered a very traumatic experience, which could explain the eeriness of the painting. 

Lot 1781: "The Accordionist"

Sadly, Bellanny past away last year but his paintings will maintain and prolong the memories people hold of him and his work. 

“I paint from my very soul and I want to move people to get inside their hearts” 

John Bellany 1942 - 2013 (Credit – http://www.bellany.com/) 

Lot 1716: Wildcat 

Lot 1826: Woman of The Mediterranean Sea 

Our next special auction are as follows: 

The Asian Works of Art Auction - 22nd July 2014 at 10.30am

The Clocks, Scientific & Musical Instruments Auction - 22nd July 2014 at 5.00pm 

The Furniture, Works of Art & Collectables Auction - 22nd July 2014  at 6.00pm 

The Rare and Collectable Whisky Auction - 23rd July 2014 at 10.30am

The Watches and Coins Auction - 23rd July 2014 at 5.00pm 

The Jewellery Auction - 23rd July 2014 at 6.00pm 

The British and International Pictures Auction - 24th July 2014 at 6.00pm 

The Scottish Contemporary Art Auction - 27th July 2014 at 2.00pm

Extravagant Artwork Auctions

At McTear's, we auction many fabulous and extravagant pieces of art which are valued by our experts. Our bidders really have an eye and appreciation for beautiful, interesting and inspirational artwork, but how much would you pay for some of the world's most sought-after artwork?

Have a look at some of the below artwork by famous artists, which have had their hammers crashing down at humongous sums of money - perhaps some of the masterpieces you own will be the same in a few years!


Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur, Pablo Picasso

Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur translates to 'Nude, Green Leaves and Bust' by the well known Impressionist artist, Pablo Picasso. It was painted in just one day in March 1932. By 2010, this painting was auctioned for $106, 500,00. Wow, not bad for a day's work!


Portrait of Dr. Gachet, Vincent van Gogh

This painting is by the very well known Dutch Impressionist artist, Van Gogh. He painted two similar versions of this portrait, one of which can be viewed at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and the other which was purchased by Ryoei Saito, a business man from Japain for just $82.5 million... JUST?!


Portrait of Adele Block-Bauer, Gustav Klimt

The above is a 'Portrait of Adele Block-Bauer', painted by Gustav Klimt in 1907. By 2006, the painting was selling in auction for $135,000,000, to the cosmetics heir Ronald S. Lauder.
Interestingly, this sale came after a court order placed by the Austrian government, to return it to the artist's heir after many years disputing that the painting had been stolen by Nazi's in World War II - Quite some attention and adventure for one painting!


The Scream, Edvard Munch

One of four that exist, this most vibrant version of the original iconic image created by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch sold at auction in May 2012 for almost $120,000,000.

The 19th century image, portraying what the artist called "the great scream in nature" soon became the subject of countless parodies throughout the 20th century and, today, remains on a par with Da Vinci's Mona Lisa as one of the most recognised images in the world.

Keep up to date with the pieces of our more affordable artwork up for auction on our website, and also see our Facebook and Twitter to ensure you hear everything first... or even have some artwork you own valued by us to see what you could get at auction.

Coming up in June...

Over the week beginning 24th of June we will have a total of 9 auctions including Fine Jewellery, Rare and Collectable Whisky, Wine and Port, Silver including Scottish Provincial and The Scottish Contemporary art auction.

Who thought the day would come that we would be auctioning a genuine antique Fijian weapon of war? This unique weapon, with a tribal name 'Totokia', designed to drive a hole into the skull of the enemy was also believed to possess there own life force or ‘mana’, making them treasured objects in life or in death. They are highly sought after so we look forward to seeing what will happen in the Furniture, Clocks and works of art auction on Tuesday at 6pm.


Lot 364

Another lot coming up during the week will be the craftsmanship of Tain silver, made in Tain, Ross-shire. This particular piece, a pair of bud vases made by William Innes of Tain circa 1835 demonstrates the quality of Innes's work, from each delicately worked wavy rim to the chased foliate designs of each vase. It will be up for bidding on our Scottish Silver auction on Tuesday 25th at 10.30am.


Lot 7

Our Scottish Pictures auction on Thursday 27th at 6pm will also feature a beautiful item up for auction. This fine example of McTaggart’s mature oeuvre was painted in 1873 and 'The Sea Bird' is definitely one not to be missed in this upcoming auction.



Lot 1737

For more information on these auctions including the expected hammer prices, have a look at the online catalogues for each auction.

British & Continental Ceramics & Glass -   Tuesday 25th June
Silver including Scottish Provincial - Tuesday 25th June 
Furniture, Clocks & Works of Art - Tuesday 25th June
Rare & Collectable Whisky, Wine & Port - Wednesday 26th June
Clocks, Watches and Coins - Wednesday 26th June
Fine Jewellery - Wednesday 26th June
Sports, Movie & Television Memorabilia - Thursday 27th June
The Scottish Pictures Auction - Thursday 27th June
The Scottish Contemporary Art Auction - Sunday 30th June  

'The Terry Howson Collection'

The Terry Howson Auction was definitely one not to be missed. The sale that took place yesterday, Sunday 28th April, was extremely successful with the paintings, drawings and sketches by Peter Howson reaching £202,000.

With the auction room being full to the brim it was sure to be an exciting and competitive sale with each lot causing great interest. The Peter Howson drawings of David Bowie on their own sold for £34,900 with the top price reached being £9500, lot 318:


Lot 318

Other lots that went under the hammer for fantastic prices include lot 56, 64 and 200.


Lot 56: Sold for £2400 after an estimation of £200-£500


Lot 64: Sold for £2800 after an estimation of £200-£500


Lot 200: Sold for £2300 after an estimation of £200-£500

There are many other interesting lots to be seen on our website.

Make sure you Follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook to keep up to date with what we are doing.

Peter Howson at McTear's

Peter Howson OBE, one of Britain’s most renowned artist’s, and his former wife are to sell 390 fantastic pieces from the personal collection he gave to her later this month.

McTear’s have been busy getting organised for this sale, with the art world focusing on Glasgow after the news that the single largest sale of works from internationally acclaimed Scottish artist Peter Howson is coming to town.

The 390 works that are to go under the hammer, including paintings, drawings and sketches, is a collection of a diverse mix of Howson’s work. In the collection will be pieces from every significant period of Howson’s career which are being put up for sale by Terry to raise money to help look after their daughter Lucie, who suffers from Aspergers syndrome.



The eclectic collection will include many of his sought after pieces including all ten original drawings of pop icon David Bowie which are valued between £1000 and £2000. It will also include rare sketches of Madonna and a number of extremely early drawings that he did of his teachers at primary school.

The 390 paintings, drawings and sketches, which belong to the artist’s former wife Terry Howson, will go on sale - with no reserve prices - at McTear’s Peter Howson OBE – The Terry Howson Collection on Sunday, 28th April.


Lot 310:'The Man Who Fell To Earth' (The First Of The David Bowie Drawings)


Lot 121:THE DIARY SKETCHES * PETER HOWSON OBE 'Portrait Of Madonna'

The sale will take place at McTear’s Auctioneers, Meiklewood Gate, Glasgow, on Sunday, 28th April at 2pm.

To read more on this story to see what both Terry and Peter have to say on this auction, have a look here.

Sketches by Scott

With McTear's Gallery 1842's 'Pastel Sketches by Scott Carruthers' online timed auction well under way, we thought it would be interesting to find out some more about him.

Scott Carruthers is one of the most successful artists working in Scotland today, with his work being hugely popular at auction. His official website describes his work as 'Original and thought provoking inspired by children and childhood', along with a quote from Scott himself:

"Come on in. Welcome to my world. It's a little different. But what you'll find will be familiar. Because every one has a story, and everyone has a story."

Originally born in 1975 in New Zealand, he now lives and works in Perth. on his move to Scotland, he signed with Washington Green Fine Art Publishers in 2008, after being a self taught artist painting commercially since 2007. In 2009 he became a full time professional artist and is now working independently and represented by galleries around the UK, with exhibits in Glasgow, Edinburgh, London and Toronto.

Talking about his work, Scott focuses on his interpretation of life with the adventures of childhood being at the heart of his paintings. The use of metaphors to illustrate these stories can allow for different understandings of the paintings to be made by different people. He aims to make his paintings thought provoking, providing a platform for the viewer to get lost in their imagination and create a nostalgic feel to it. The reason behind the vacant backgrounds is to ensure that focus is on the narrative which is often the objects, symbols and the children themselves.

Gallery 1842 are extremely fortunate to be showcasing his new series of pastel drawings for the first time, but make sure you get on to it quick as the auction will close on the 26th of January. 

Here's some of the drawings that are up for grabs:

 

Lot 4: DON`T LET GO pastel

Lot 6: MAKE A WISH pastel

Lot 15: LOVE YOU pastel

To see what other auctions are happening at McTear's and Gallery 1842, have a look at our website. Alternatively, Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter to keep up to date with whats going on.

Great Start to 2013...

The second week of January proved to be an exciting and successful one for McTear's. Some keen bidders came with Christmas money in hand to snap up some auction pieces.

The three days commencing the 8th of January held 6 individual auctions with a further special auction on Sunday the 13th, all with some unique items going under the hammer.

 Over the three days we had the following auctions: Fine Pictures, Fine Jewellery, Watches and Coins, Rare & Collectable Whisky, Wine & Port, Furniture, Clocks & Works of Art, Asian Works of Art and British & Continental Ceramics & Glass, Silver & Plate.

The Scottish Contemporary Art auction that took place on the Sunday saw Lot 1571 sail past its estimates. After being estimated to sell for £6000-£7000, it ended up going under the hammer for a fantastic £11000.

Lot 1571. ALEXANDER GOUDIE (1933 - 2004) SALUTE oil on canvas 151cm x 151cm.

In The Fine Jewellery, Watches and Coins auction, after being estimated to sell for £200-£300, this Gentleman's art deco Rolex wrist watch reached a brilliant £2200 when it went under the hammer.

Lot 1032 GENTLEMAN'S ART DECO ROLEX WRIST WATCH

These are just a couple of highlights from the auctions. For a full overview of what sold and how much each piece went under the hammer for, have a look at our website.

Our next '3 days of Auctions' will begin on the 5th of February.


For more information, visit our website and don't forget to Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter.

Exciting End to November

It's that time again - McTear's has had a busy week getting set up for next weeks exciting '3 Days of Auction'. 

At McTear's, we've got your lots and next week will be no exception with lots of wonderful pieces going under the hammer.

Our British & Continental Ceramics & Glass, Silver & Plate auction on Tuesday at 10.30am features ceramics and glass from Britain, Europe and beyond, along with silver and plate from around the world including this 19th Century Goldshieder Terracotta Figure of a Boy. 

Lot 126 Estimate: £2000 - £3000 

On Tuesday, we also have the Chinese, Japanese & Eastern Ceramics, Furniture & Works of Art auction at 6pm which gives you the chance to grab ceramics, ivory, bronze, jade, lacquer, wood, silver and cloisonne from China, Japan, Korea, Persia & the Middle East. Included in this auction will be this unique and beautiful Chinese Carved Red Gilt Lacquer Washstand. 

Lot 394 Estimate: £200 - £300

Our second day of auctions will begin with our Rare & Collectable Whisky, Wine & Port auction at 10.30am.  With a choice of 500 lots of whisky, wine and port, there is something to suit everyone's tastes. This Macallan 1968 Anniversary Malt is estimated to sell for £600 - £800.

Lot 857A Estimate: £600-£800

On Wednesday night at 5pm we have something that might be more interesting for the ladies:  Fine Jewellery, Watches and Coins auction. This fabulous Turquoise and Diamond Marquise shaped ring is estimated to fetch £1500-£2000.

Lot 1148 Estimate: £1500 - £2000

Finishing a great couple of days of auctions on Thursday with our Fine pictures that will feature fine paintings by predominantly Scottish artists of the last 200 years. Hoping to raise a fantastic £10000-£15000 is this Robert Gemmell Hutchison oil on canvas, Her Maiden Voyage.

Lot 1410B Estimate: £10000 - £15000

McTear's look forward to seeing everyone next week and hope that you are all eager to get bidding.

For more information on these auctions and others that we have at McTear's, have a look on our Upcoming auctions page where you will also find the online catalogues for the above auctions.

 Remember to Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter to keep up to date with what's going on at McTears.

Look What's Arrived at McTear's...

Like every month, McTear's have an exciting three days of auction coming up at the end of October offering bidders the chance to grab themselves some rare and collectable whisky, wine & port to a selection of fine jewellery, watches and coins.

Coming up for auction at McTear’s on the 24th October will be this Charles Horner of Halifax silver pendant, estimated to sell at £80-120. The Charles Horner company was famous for producing a wide range of jewellery in the Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts and Art Deco styles.

Also, just arrived at McTears is this Walker & Hall tea service for our auction on the 23rd of October - Sensational Silver!

Look what else has come in for these auctions! Lot 1779, 'Winter Window' by Christine L McArthur,is expected to fetch between £350 and £450 on Thursday October 25th.

Finally, coming up for sale on the 24th October is this Gentleman’s Nine Carat Gold Art Deco Wrist Watch. This is estimated to sell at £80-£120. 

Keep an eye on our website for the online catalogues for each auction. The auctions will commence on Tuesday the 23rd of October and will finish on Thursday the 25th.

Alternatively, to keep up to date with what's happening at McTear's, Follow us on Facebook or Like us on Twitter. 

'The Haining' auction achieves fantastic sales...

The unique auction that took place on the 19th of July attracted a lot of attention from keen bidders. The sale of the contents of one of Scotland's most beautiful historic mansions, which included rare paintings, period furniture and valuable objects d’art, raised over £100,000. 

McTear's were extremely excited to to be the auctioneers to hold the sale of the contents of the Palladian mansion; The Haining, an impressive Borders estate with its own loch. What made this auction even more exciting and unique was that it was filmed by the producers of The Antiques Roadshow who are making a new prime time series for BBC that will include exclusive behind the scenes footage covering every aspect of the auction process.

Have a look at our very own video that takes a look around the stunning home:

Highlights of the 200 lot auction included: a painting by Charles Oppenheimer, of his house in Kirkcudbright, that sold for £19,000; an eighteenth century marble console table was purchased for £9,300 – almost ten times the original estimate; and a painting of The Deposition by Renaissance artist Vincenzo Corsi which was snapped up for £3400.

With half of the proceeds going to The Haining Charitable Trust, the success of the auction will be sure to help fulfil the wish to open a history room in the Haining and also future use of it as a creative arts hub and a catering kitchen. Commenting on the one off event, Brian Clements of McTear’s said: “There was an incredible turnout at the auction with fierce bidding for just about every lot. The Haining Charitable Trust, who are to receive half the proceeds from this auction, is doing some fantastic work and I am delighted that the sale has raised a significant sum to help in the creation of an important cultural centre in the Borders.” 

For a full overview of what exclusive items sold in this auction have a look at 'The Haining' results. 

Alternatively, to keep up to date with what McTear's are up to, Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.

June's Exciting Auctions

It's nearly that time again for McTear's '3 days of auctions' which will take place from the 5th to the 7th of June.

During these 3 days we will be holding various exciting sales including The Scottish Contemporary Art auction, Rare and Collectable Whisky, Wine & Port auction and Furniture and Works of Art auction. This will give people a chance to buy an outstanding selection of paintings by Scotland's finest artists, a huge range of rare and collectable whiskies for collectors and whisky lovers alike and beautiful lots of jewellery, watches and coins. 

Alexander Millar Stan and Ollie oil on canvas estimated to sell for £7000-£10000 in The Scottish Contemporary Art Auction on Tuesday the 5th of June at 6pm.



This Pearl and Enamel dress ring estimated to sell £80 -£120 in our Fine Jewellery, Watches and Coins auction on Wednesday the 6th June at 6pm.

For more details on the auctions we have during the 3 days visit our website where you can find the online catalogues for what will be sold at each auction.

Alternatively, like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter to keep up to date with the latest news and auction information.

A Record Breaking 'Scream'

This week was not only an exciting week for McTear's with our various auctions, it also saw the record breaking sale of the world famous painting: 'The Scream' at an auction house in New York.

Edvard Munch's 'The Scream', painted in 1895 sold for a record breaking $119.9million (roughly £74 million) at an Auction yesterday at Sotheby's in New York. The previous record for a piece of artwork sold at auction was for Picasso's Nude, Green, Leaves and Bust sold by Christies in 2010 for $106.5million but 'The Scream' has now exceeded this and now holds the title as most expensive piece of art sold at auction.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/may/03/scream-price-edvard-munch

In an article on The Guardian by Jonathan Jones, he describes the painting as a 'poet in colour', portraying feelings and as the sky of blood and despair are revealed in this painting, the feelings, like in most of his work, are dark.

Born in December, 1863 Munch was a Norwegian painter and print maker. His paintings conveyed great symbolism most of which towards that of spiritual anguish which can be seen in 'The Scream'.  This symbolism portrayed in his paintings can be owed to his father who was described as being extremely religious and would amuse his children with graphic ghost stories and tales. Living a long life, Munch sadly died at the age of 80 years old, leaving behind him a legacy and paintings that today are valued by many and famous around the world.

To stay up to date with our latest news and auctions visit our Website, Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.

'Three Days of Auctions'

It's nearly that time again for our 'Three Days of Auctions' event which will take place from Tuesday the 1st through to Thursday the 3rd of May.

Once every five weeks McTear's hold various auctions over a three day period with over 2000 lots of Rare & Collectable Whisky, Fine Wines, Jewellery, Watches & Coins, British, Continental & Asian Works of Art, Ceramics & Collectables and Silver, also Scottish, Contemporary & Fine Pictures, Antique Furniture, Clocks, Sports Memorabilia & Militaria.

Here's a sneak preview of some of the items that will be auctioned:

The Fine Pictures Auction will take place on Tuesday 1st of May at 10.30am.

Fine Pictures 01/05/2012: Lot 26 Estimate: £30000 - £50000

The Scottish Contemporary Art Auction will take place on Tuesday 1st of May at 6.00pm.

The Scottish Contemporary Art Auction: Lot 470 Estimate: £400-£600

Fine Jewellery, Watches and Coins Auction will take place on Wednesday the 2nd of May at 6.00pm.

Fine Jewellery, Watches and Coins: Lot 1008 Estimate: £9500-£10500

We will also have a Rare & Collectable Whisky, Wine & Port auction on Wednesday the 2nd of May at 10.30am. On Thursday the 3rd of May there will be a Decorative Arts & Design, Asian Works of Art and British & Continental Ceramics & Glass at 12pm and a Silver, Collectables, Decorative Pictures & Furniture at 6pm.  

For more information please visit our Website, Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.