GAZETTEDISS AUCTION ROOMS - GAZETTE - SPRING 2014 - ISSUE 37
Modern Design
page 3
The Gallery Sale
pages 6-7
Gold Bars
page 8
BeswickDiss Auction Rooms - Saleroom 3Friday 2 May 2014Contact Lesley Smith
Wines & Spirits
Diss Auction Rooms- Saleroom 2Friday 2 May 2014Contact Lisa West
Rural & DomesticBygones
Saturday 22 March 2014Contact Carl Willows & Robert Kinsella
AutomobiliaDiss Auction Rooms - Saleroom 3Friday 14 March 2014
Contact Andre Ling
Friday14 March2014
£2500-3000ContactAndre Ling
Modern DesignModern DesignModern DesignModern DesignModern DesignSaturday 8 March 10am
Followers of theModern Design sale willhave noticed that overthe past few years thefurniture has taken on amuch more Danishflavour (no not bacon),I’m talking teak, whetherdining, lounge orbedroom pieces. This
by James Bassam
mirrors the populartrend at the moment forthat ‘MidCenturyModern’ look which theScandinavian countriesdo so well, in particularthe Danes.
Many people will haveheard the names ArneJacobsen, Hans Wegnerand Finn Juhl as thesepioneers of mid 20th
Century designcommand high pricesand you know you arebuying quality. But manylesser known names are
coming through withequally strong designsand build quality to rivalthe ‘big boys’.
The next ModernDesign sale on Saturday8 March continues withthe Danish theme, thepick of the group hasbeen sourced from alocal property, a muchloved dining suite. Thedining table and chairsare a marriage, thechairs were designed in1951 by Arne HovmandOlsen for the Danishfirm JL Moller, acompany founded by thewell known designerand cabinet maker NielsMoller. Our set is insolid teak with papercord seating but theywere also available atthe time in rosewoodand oak. The six chairsare generally known as‘Model 71’ and theycome with two carvers
‘model 55’ which haveunusual protrudingshort arm restscomplementing thesmooth organic styling.The extending table byCJ Rosengaarden isagain in solid teak andwas also available inrosewood, probablydesigned by JohnMortensen and laterretailed by HeltborgMobler. The final piecefrom this privateresidence, a solid teaksidecabinet, wasdesigned by KurtOstervig for KP Mobler.Ostervig actually startedhis career as a shipbuilding engineer whichled to his employmentat E. Knudsen furnituremanufacturing businessdesigning furniture forthe home, ship interiorsand hotels.
So go Danish this springand with this sale youcan furnish an entirehome, with a choice oflounge, dining, bedroomfurniture and lightingavailable.
£600
30/8/13
Haddiscoe
Annual Marsh Lettings Auctionat The Bell, St Olaves
Monday 24 March
Approx. 800 acres of grazing marshes to let by auction.
For more information please contact Edward Baskerville
01379 651 931 or Rachael Hipperson 01953 423 188.
Land & Property Auctionat The Diss Auction Rooms
Thursday 3 April
Transmission DateMonday 19 March 12:15pm,
BBC 1
£360
16/8/13
£520
5/4/13
Examples of Clarice Cliff
sold at Diss Auction Rooms
At the age of 13 Clarice started workingin the pottery industry as an apprenticegilder, adding gold lines on ware oftraditional design. Once this was
mastered she changed jobs to learnfreehand painting, at the same timestudying art and sculpture at theBurslead School of Art in theevenings.
In 1916 Clarice made the unusualdecision to move to the factory ofA.J . Wilkinson at Newport,Burslem, to improve her careeropportunities.
Clarice was ambitious andacquired skills in modelling
figurines, vases and gilding, keepingpattern books and hand painting
wares, outbuilding and enamelling.Her efforts were noticed by
management and Clarice was given asecond apprenticeship in 1924, aged 25,primarily as a ‘modeller’ but she also
worked with factory designers John Butlerand Fred Ridgway.Eventually, Clarice’s wide range of skillswas recognised and in 1927 she was givenher own studio at the adjoining Newportpottery.
Here Clarice was allowed to decoratesome of the old defective ‘Glost’ (white)ware in her own freehand pattern; for theseshe used brightly coloured on-glazeenamels. She covered the imperfections insimple patterns of triangles in a style shecalled ‘Bizarre’.
To the surprise of the company’s seniorsalesman Ewart Oakes when he filled hiscar with these pieces and took them tomajor stockist they were immediatelypopular, the rest is history.
A private collection of Clarice Cliff is tobe offered in our next ‘Special sale’ 4 April.
Sharon Bambridge
Clarice Cliff b.20 Jan 1899 - d. 20 Oct 1972
English ceramic artist, active from 1922 to 1963
The Gallery SalePaintings that attempt
to capture the sublime
By Debra Brown
We are delighted toreport that “The
Gallery Sale” at DissAuction Rooms on
Saturday 1 February
was every bit a success,a stroke of genius you
might say.
Launched at the
beginning of the yearthe new Gallery Sale is
the inspiration of
James Bassam, a seniorvaluer at the auction
rooms. A new way ofseeing art from a
different angle, a
change from the moretraditional Winter and
Summer Fine Arts sale
that had gone before.
The Gallery Sale had achanged format, a
complete new layout
and re-design to hostup to approximately
180 lots ranging fromselected works of 17th
to 21st Centuries
including fine oils,watercolours, artists’
proof prints as well
as sculpture and artvolumes.
This new layoutallowed visitors to
circulate around the
saleroom with ease.
The inaugural salewas also noteable for
the calibre of works,
arguably higher thanwe had seen before.
Visitors flocked tothe salesroom to see
some impressive
works from artistssuch as Thomas
Smythe (1825-1900),Samuel David
Colkett and Frank. H.
Partridge all from thetraditional Norwich
School of the 19th
Century tocontemporary artists
such as DavidHockney, Tessa
Newcombe and
Dame Laura Knight;oils watercolours,
pencil studies,acrylics, artists’
estimated at £300 -£400 made over £1000
and two charcoalstudies on paper of
circus clowns did
extremely well:estimated between
£450 - £675 it made£850.
£850
prints, sculptures (even
Pablo Picasso print ofabstract figures) and
many more.
Many works of art
attracted lots ofinterest from buyers
and made well overtheir estimates, works
such as pencil studies
by Dame Laura Knights
An oil painting by
Samuel David
Colkett depicting afigure on lane with
cottages behindestimated between
£800 - £1,200, made
£1,800.
One painting
headlining the salewas a watercolour by
one of The NorwichSchool’s most famous
artists; a watercolour
by John Sell Cotmanentitled “View of
Raven”.This work demanded
an estimate worthy
of between £9,000 to£12,000, which
looked very
achievable based onthe buzz around it at
viewing. Howeverbids were not
forthcoming and the
vendor has sincereturned it to his
wall for his continuedenjoyment.
A 19th Century onyxand brass torchere
surmounted by a
bronze figural electric
lamp as a nymph
holding branchessigned H. Allouard
made a dazzling£1,600, estimated
between £680 - £880.
The love of a localartist too, it was good
to see an outstanding
collection of works byStephen Walker, a
group of miniatures inoils depicting horses
and rural scenes.
However the star of
the show and stealingthe limelight was a
watercolour by Rose
Maynard Barton R.W.S(1856-1926) depicting
horse drawn London
cabs in a wet eveningstreet with Big Ben in
the distance, signed and
dated1899, making wellover its estimate at
£2,600.
The trend from buyers
was a move towardsoils than watercolour,
but more over it was
fantastic to see highquality art generally
making strong prices inDiss. So anyone out
there who has anything
extraordinary to sellfrom a Turner to a
Bridget Riley, pick upthe phone.
If you require anyfurther information
about our forthcomingGallery Sale please
contact the Auction
Rooms to speak toeither Edward Smith
MA or James Bassam.Meanwhile don’t forget
our Art with Antiques
sale Friday 7 March.
£2600
£1600
G A Z E T T E
Issue 37/spring ‘14
TW Gaze LLP, Diss Auction Rooms, Diss, Norfolk IP22 4LN01379 650 306 [email protected] www.twgaze.co.uk
When I began my career in 1985 it seemed sovereigns always sold at auction for £60 - 65 and half sovereigns for£32 – 38; the gold market was stable for an extended period and valuations were easily predictable using a verystatic formula.
In early 2014, whilst particular features such as date and condition impose marginal differences on values andgold prices fluctuate to reflect the more erratic financial climate, a sovereign sells at auction for a currentaverage of £220.
Meanwhile, I began my 30th year in the profession with a career first: I was instructed to value a gold bar. Untillast month my concept of bullion had been influenced by “heist movies” such as “Ocean’s 11" and “Lock, Stockand Two Smoking Barrels” or even coloured by clichéd cartoon images.
Upon my arrival in the high security location I was expecting to see a legendary foil-wrapped chocolate-chunk;instead, I was presented with a shape that resembled a sad-looking chocolate slab that has been compressed ona hot day and put in the fridge to “revive”! My initial reaction? I have to admit to being disappointingly underwhelmed.The “kilobar” (1000g) is the world’s most widely traded small gold bar. It transpires that most have a flat“international” shape such as the one I inspected, but traditional kilobars in the shape of a “brick” are stillavailable, notably in Europe. The gold purity for these is normally 99.5%, 99.9% or 99.99%.
However, having had my interest in the subject whetted I have been intrigued to learn subsequently thatstandard, innovative and unusual gold bars manufactured around the world can be grouped into a total of 55categories!
They vary in terms of shape and weight and their design often reflects the culture of the country manufacturingthe gold; for example “twin-coin” bars from Thailand, “Yin-yang” bars from Japan, “bone” bars from Brazil and“boat” bars that are made in Thailand, Hong Kong and China. The traditional boat shape has been used for silverand other Chinese coinage as far back as the Han dynasty (206BC – 220AD), but many shapes of gold bars arerelatively “modern” releases such as “model” bars. For example, in 1991 LG Metals (South Korea) issued a
traditional range of gold model bars in the form of pigs (a symbol of wealth), toads(good fortune) and turtles (longevity).
“Minted” bars (no, not the herbal after-dinner variety) including“commemorative” bars and “pendant” bars have also beenissued by various manufacturers over the years andMitsubishi (Japan) have experimented with multi-colouredprinted designs to decorate the bars’ surface and “rainbow”gold bars in which different carat gold colour tones are
combined in one.
I now begin to understand the allure of accruing one’s wealthin easily storable, transportable (and relatively modest-looking)
pocket-sized packages; and whilst I note that a 1kg bar of chocolatecontained in a distinctive purple wrapper is currently being marketed
at £9, the value of that one kilobar I was privileged to handle?£25,430!
by Elizabeth Talbot facebook.com/likeelizabethtalbot @talktalbot
Golden DaysGolden Days
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