+44 (0)1428 653727 sales@johnnicholsons.com

It’s time to turn your hidden treasures into hard cash!

Thanks to our eagle-eyed specialist, bowls that lay unnoticed during a house clearance sold in Fernhurst for £35,000

As we continue with our new weekly series of consignment valuation days at John Nicholson’s, we can reveal that we have already found amazing treasures locally – and we know many more are waiting to come out of hiding!

Take the pair of Chinese famille rose porcelain bowls shown here. Beautifully decorated with coral red fish to the exterior, this 14.5cm diameter pair has a wonderful interior, garnished with blue and white sprays of flora. Each bowl has a Daoguang mark to the base. They may well be contemporary with that period of the Qing dynasty, which lasted from 1820-50.

The bowls came to light during a routine house clearance in Hindhead. The owner was moving to the United States and had called in John Nicholson’s to assess the contents and manage the process of their dispersal. Unaware of the significance of the bowls, the owner did not single them out for inspection, but luckily our specialist spotted them during a visit. Estimated at £4,000-6,000 in our May 17, 2023 Islamic & Oriental auction, they sold to a collector in Hong Kong for £35,000.

Also sold from the clearance were several antique Chinese jade pieces, which attracted very healthy prices indeed

The Surrey/Sussex border region has also proved to be very fertile ground for antique and Contemporary Islamic art. A recent example of this was the abstract study by the Turkish artist Mubin Orhon (1924-81). Signed and dated 1961, the 80cm square canvas left its £3,000-5,000 far behind when it sold for £15,000 at our November 17, 2023 Islamic & Oriental auction.

Now it’s time to see what treasures you may have in your home. Bring them along to our consignment valuation day at Fernhurst saleroom each Friday between 9am and 5pm. No appointment necessary. Or on other days by appointment only.

 

A lesson in how to identify the antiques of the future

One of the most interesting aspects of working in the art, antiques and collectables world today is just how few people realise that they are part of it. Antiques may be things of the past, but it’s an ever-changing world, which means there is a constant supply of ‘new’ antiques, objects that have just become more than 100 years old.

In the end, it is a fairly arbitrary measure; what really matters is the quality of the piece in question. Values can change depending on a range of factors, such as rarity and condition – and, indeed, age – but perhaps the two factors that most alter the general cycle of buying and selling are changing tastes and habits.

Take dining room furniture. Personally, I think a return to having a special room for dinner parties and the like is long overdue, but while larger homes may still accommodate this if they choose, the average new-build house simply does not have the space.

A collector who has proved very successful in identifying trends – perhaps even creating them himself – describes himself as a ‘homesteader’, he has acted like one of the great pioneers of the West in the 19th century, heading out and staking his claim before seeing if it yields anything of value.

The thing about people like this is they accept that a lot of the time their efforts will yield very little, but it’s all worth it because here and there they hit paydirt.

So, look about you and ask yourself a few questions. What do you see that will stand the test of the time? Does it have mass appeal? In time, will items associated with this field decline sufficiently to create that vital rarity factor– especially for examples in mint or near new condition? Does it have the potential to create a strong sense of nostalgia? Perhaps have retro or kitsch value? Is it the sort of thing that could be a future design icon or simply a fascinating piece of history? If you want to test your ‘eye’, this is a good way to go about it.

 

 

The secret to auctions’ longevity? They are endlessly adaptable

The most obvious change in auctions since the millennium has been the influence of the internet, first with websites that allowed people to view auction lots prior to sale and gave even quite parochial auctioneers a global audience; then live online bidding, which has been the biggest game changer of all. But go back even earlier and you will find other significant developments.

If you attended an auction in the 1960s, you would rarely have found a detailed catalogue outside the London rooms. Where catalogues were available, estimates were not.

Dealers, I’m sure, would love it if that were still the case, but times have moved on, auction houses have learnt the value of the private buyer, there are more niche specialists than generalists, and quality of service for the private punter has become the watchword. Clear guides to everything from how to bid to what fees are involved make the auction process much simpler for the novice to bidder or seller to understand … and rightly so.

Such changes bring their own challenges, but they show how adaptable auctions have been over the years.

This also extends to what people buy. Time was when the industry was dominated by generalists holding weekly sales of antique furniture, silver, ceramics and glass, together with a selection of Victorian and Edwardian pictures. Today it’s a very different prospect. Auctioneers tend to divide up sales by discipline to create specialist niche offerings in everything from 20th century design to jewellery and accessories.

Trainers used to be restricted to sport; now they have moved beyond fashion items to become expensive collectables, with the likes of Sotheby’s holding specialist sales of them.

Heavy, dark furniture may have hit the buffers, but good solid oak and other, lighter woods transformed into stunning early 20th century pieces at the hands of a well-known master craftsman still command a premium. Antiques are far from over; like everything else, they simply evolve along with people’s taste.

  • VALUATION DAYS STARTING FRIDAY 19 JANUARY AND EVERY FRIDAY AT JOHN NICHOLSON’S SALEROOM

    We are inviting you to bring in your jewellery, watches, clocks, pictures, oriental works of art, antiques, vases, porcelain, etc for valuation on any Friday starting on Friday 19 January from 9am-5pm. We will have specialists on hand to assist you. If you have a car or van load or just one piece, do bring it along. Appointments not necessary.

ARE YOU SITTING ON A FORTUNE? VALUATION OPEN DAYS EVERY FRIDAY OR BY APPOINTMENT ON OTHER DAYS FOR CONSIGNMENT TO AUCTION

VALUATION OPEN DAYS EVERY FRIDAY OR BY APPOINTMENT ON OTHER DAYS FOR CONSIGNMENT TO AUCTION

We are inviting you to bring in your jewellery, watches, clocks, pictures, oriental works of art, antiques, vases, porcelain, etc for valuation and to consign on any Friday starting on Friday from 9am-5pm. We will have specialists on hand to assist you. If you have a car or van load or just one piece, do bring it along. Appointments not necessary on Friday’s.

Our address is:
Longfield,
Midhurst Road,
Fernhurst,
Haslemere,
Surrey,
GU27 3HA

email: sales@johnnicholsons.com
Telephone: +44 (0)1428 653727

 

 

Why a rare Christmas card can make the perfect seasonal gift

It’s that season again. We have the United States to thank for the modern image of Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, as they call him. That’s also true of greetings cards, which became popular, initially in the United States in the 1880s, thanks to the development of offset lithography, a form of printing.

Britain picked up on the trend early. Hallmark, one of the biggest names in greetings cards, has been around since almost the start, when savvy British makers saw what was happening in the US and started exporting cheaper folded versions there not long before the First World War.

The first Christmas cards were hand-coloured for Sir Henry Cole, founder of the Victoria & Albert Museum, who ordered 1000 in 1843. They depicted a family raising their charged glasses in a toast above a draped banner carrying the words A Merry Christmas. He used half himself and sold the rest for a shilling apiece.

It’s thought around nine or ten survive, and each is valued at around £10,000 today.

Some of the most sought-after Christmas cards today are those designed by well-known artists of the late Victorian and early 20th century periods. Kate Greenaway, who illustrated many of the most popular children’s books of the 1880s and ’90s is a favourite, as is her great rival at the time, Walter Crane.

Perhaps the most desirable cards, though are the early Hold-to-Light cards depicting Father Christmas, or Santa Claus. These were generally die-cut and got their name because if you held them up to the light, the die-cut parts lit up, creating a glowing Christmas scene.

When first produced in the US, in postcard form, these were the preserve of the wealthy as each could cost as much as a day’s wages for a working man. Nowadays while religious or other scenes can be had for as little as around £20, the pick of the Santa cards can cost £400.

Collectors tend to specialize in subject matter, such as comic cards, or anniversary type, such as birthday or Christmas cards. Condition can matter a great deal. If they are unused and have not been stuck in albums with the accompanying sticky tape. And particular printers, such as De La Rue, also tempt collectors.