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:
Amongst our 3 special auctions yesterday, distinctive and quirky antiques went under the hammer. In particular, The Gentleman’s Library auction had items to be highlighted.
With Christmas just over a week away, it was a perfect opportunity to get those last minute presents for ‘the man who has everything’. From silver snuff boxes to gold cigarette cases to Edwardian walking canes, this unique auction of 300 lavish items hopefully had the answer to that problem.
Before the auction, McTear’s Managing Director, Brian Clements, said: “Picking the perfect Christmas gift can be one of the most challenging tasks during the festive season so we thought we would hunt out some really unusual luxury items to give auction goers some much need inspiration”.
Whether you had a frugal festive budget to stick to or more money to splurge, the Gentleman’s Library auction had something to suit both. For example, this silver snuff box and stamp case went under the hammer for £50 whereas this rare Cubatabaco 1492 original humidor –complete with 50 Cornoas Gordas cigars - valued at between £12,000 and £16,000 went for £15,00.
For those who made it to the auctions yesterday we hope you enjoyed them as much as we did and managed to claim that winning bid in time for Christmas.
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Earlier this week, a dazzling diamond fetched a record breaking £13.5m at Christie's semi-annual jewellery sale in Geneva.
This flawless diamond from India’s mythical Golconda mines, that once belonged to Archduke Joseph August of Austria (1872-1962), was snapped up by an anonymous buyer at an auction on Tuesday night.
With the value of the diamond increasing, the unique, rare, colourless stone – weighing 76 carats – obtained over double the price that was paid for it roughly two decades ago, sold by an American jeweler Black, Starr & Frost. It surfaced at auction in 1961 and again at Christie's in November 1993, netting £4m at the time and has subsequently been sold on again for over 3 times the price paid in 1993.
François Curiel, director of the international jewellery department at Christie’s described the sale as being ‘flabbergasting’ and although the market is experiencing a slight decline, the diamond managed to fetch ‘a world record price per carat for a colourless diamond’.
In a sale that overall reached a ‘glittering’ £50m, the alluring diamond was the ‘VIP’ out of the 290 lots that were sold.
Dating back to the 4th century B.C, India was one of the first countries to mine the gem, with their diamonds being cherished for their size and beauty, especially the stones from Golconda. "Diamonds of Golconda" stones are rare and famous with the exact source of the so-called "lost mines of Golconda" being unknown.
Here is another fabulous diamond. The Darya-i-Nur was a rare blue-diamond (186 carats), which was owned by the
last Great Mughal Emperor of Persia, Aurangzeb, until it was stolen from his heirs during the 'sack of Delhi' in 1739.
Darya-i-Nur "Sea of Light"
For information on McTear's dedicated sales that are occurring at the end of this month have a look on our website.
With an exciting week of auctions starting tomorrow, we thought it would be appropriate to highlight one fabulous piece we have coming up for sale.
With a fantastic valuation of £200k to £300k, this stunning 20 inch by 16 inch oil on canvas, ‘Pink Roses’, by Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935) will be the focal point of McTear’s Scottish Still Lifes, Fine & Contemporary Pictures Sale this Thursday, 25th October.
Lot 1545
Acquired 50 years ago in Glasgow by the late father of the Stirlingshire based seller, with an original price that “was not significant enough to remember”, did not make a great impression on his wife. After being sent out by his wife to buy a painting of some roses, she unfortunately didn’t like the piece and it was consigned to a spare room.
Commenting on the sale, Brian Clements, Managing Director at McTear’s Auctioneers, said: “Pink Roses is a stunning painting that shows Peploe at his very best.
“It may not have been to the original owner’s taste but judging from the interest that has been shown so far it is clear there are a number of collectors who are very impressed by this remarkable piece by one of Scotland’s most celebrated artists.”
Peploe was a Scottish Post Impressionist painter and, along with John Duncan Fergusson, Francis Cadell and Leslie Hunter, was a founding member of the group that became known as the Scottish Colourists. He is noted for his still life works which show the influence of Manet, with fluid brushwork, thick impasto and dark backgrounds with strong lighting.
Of the four Peploe still life examples which have sold at auction so far in 2012, prices achieved have averaged £394,250 (including buyers premium). Two of the four were the same size as ‘Pink Roses’ and the other two were slightly smaller.
Auction records also confirm that Peploe is considered to be the most valuable of the Scottish Colourists with the current record for his work established in May 2011 at £937,250 (including buyers premium) for ‘The Coffee Pot’. This also represents the highest price ever paid for a work by a Scottish artist at auction.
This beautiful oil on canvas by Samual John
Peploe, Pink Roses, is coming up for sale on 25th October in McTear’s
auction of ‘Scottish Still Lifes’.
Estimate: £200,000 - £300,000
Born in 1871, Peploe was a Scottish Post-Impressionist painter, famous for his still life pieces. He was also well known for being part of the group of four painters who were known as the 'Scottish Colourists'. Studying in both Scotland and Paris, Peploe experimented with the bold use of colour inspired by the bright sunset and influenced by specific French Painters.
It was in 1910, when Peploe moved to Paris, that he started to pay more attention to still life and landscape painting with an amalgamation of fluid brushwork, thick impasto and dark backgrounds with strong lighting. Peploe continued painting when he returned to Scotland, going on regular painting trips with friends to various parts of Scotland.
Peploe sadly died in Edinburgh in 1935 but his paintings, with strong use of colour, tight composition and meticulous execution, are ones not to be missed.
One of Peploe's other paintings, Still Life with Coffee Pot, sold on 26 May 2011 at Christie's in London for £937,250, currently holds the record for one of the most expensive
Scottish painting sold at auction.
Make sure that you check out our website for more information on this up coming auction and other ones at McTear's.
Rare bank notes that were printed specially to mark the Queens Diamond Jubilee went on sale in last weeks Furniture, Clocks & Works of Art auction, raising a fantastic £1000 for The STV appeal.
The Royal Bank of Scotland produced ten of the limited edition ten pound notes, all with consecutive serial numbers prefixed ‘STV’ with five notes portraying images of the Queen through the decades. These five notes were mounted together in a double sided frame to be sold at McTear’sFurniture & Works of Art auction that took place on Thursday 16th August.
Before the auction, Elizabeth Partyka, deputy director of channels at STV commented on the auction saying it was marvellous news for the STV Appeal with these rare £10 notes anticipated to raise considerably more than their face value. This they did, with an incredible £1000 raised to help children living in poverty in Scotland.
Commenting on the sale, Brian Clements, Managing Director of McTear’s said: “It is extremely rare for a bank to produce special edition notes which makes this collection extremely valuable. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone to not only own some very collectable bank notes, but to also raise much needed funds for the STV Appeal”. McTear’s are delighted to be supporting John and the campaign and are very pleased to be able to raise lots of money to help those children in Scotland who are affected by poverty.
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.
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McTear’s is thrilled to be managing the auction of the contents of the amazing Borders country house under order of the Executers of the late Andrew James Nimmo-Smith. With half of the proceeds going to The Haining Charitable Trust, this will help to 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.
Susan Edington of The Haining Charitable Trust comments:
“The contents of the Haining were all purchased by our benefactor Andrew Nimmo-Smith. Although there are some very fine examples of artwork and antiques in the property, such as a number of watercolour paintings by Selikirk’s own ‘son’ Tom Scott, nothing in the auction was originally part of the property. All family portraits, from both Mr Nimmo-Smith’s father’s family and his mother’s family the Pringle-Pattisons are being retained at The Haining, along with items from the pageant and hunt etc and family war diaries that we hope to publish but of course keep the originals at the house. The heritage of the families will remain in the house and form the focus of the History Room. We wish for the Haining to form part of the local community, to provide fun, education and employment and not only be a regular part of the community’s lives, but also to be a come-to venue for people from further afield who will hopefully visit and use the premises thus allowing it to be retained for the purpose Mr Nimmo-Smith envisaged, that is for the Haining to be used to provide culture and recreation to the people of Selkirkshire and the wider public. It cannot be stated strongly enough that for The Haining to succeed we will require funding on an international level and we have raised in excess of £700,000 since the inception of the Trust towards these ends including an international grant of £354,000. We are on the shortlist to house the Tait Modern Artist’s rooms in 2015 and we are already working with a local group to have the Haining as the hub for an Arts Festival in September next year. We are used for arts projects at the moment and have already worked with Chance for Change, Knowepark Primary School, The Royal Scottish Academy, Borders Youth Theatre, and CABN bringing arts to The Haining.”
This auction is made even more exciting as it will be filmed by the producers of The Antiques Roadshow who are making a new prime time series for BBC, with John Foster, BBC Antiques Expert, commenting on the Haining as 'a fascinating Scottish Country House with important connections to Scottish Border history'.
From beautiful paintings to unique pieces of furniture there will be something for everyone in this special auction. If you are interested in being part of this auction, viewing will commence with a drinks reception on Saturday 14th July from 3pm till 6pm with the auction taking place on Thursday the 19th of July.
The online catalogue is also available to view on our website to allow you to see what will be going on sale.
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