Aug 6, 2025
The system of British hallmarks dates back a few centuries, but the concept of hallmarking dates back thousands of years, to the time when coins first emerged as currency. Individually stamped by local officials, those early coins would have been made of electrum (a mix of gold and silver) or silver, and the stamp would denote the purity of the metal, which in turn attested to its value. It was much later that base metal coins represented far greater values, effectively acting as tokens rather than carrying their actual value in their make-up.
From the earliest times one of the problems with currency losing its value was the clipping of coins, where the unscrupulous would harvest minute amounts of silver from the edge of individual coins stamped for a specific value. Eventually they would have enough silver to either mint new coins or make other valuable items. However, this also meant that the currency in circulation depreciated in value. The authorities put a stop to this trick in the reign of Charles II by introducing lettering around the edge of coins.
If debasement of the coinage – as even happened officially under Henry VIII to save money – was an age-old problem, so was debasement of objects made from precious metals. How did you know that the ring or goblet you bought was pure gold or silver, and not made from something cheaper, mixed in with a little of the precious metal to give it the appearance of something more valuable?
In England, King Edward I started to tackle the problem by introducing a law in 1300 making it compulsory for all silver objects to meet a sterling silver standard of 92.5% purity. To ensure this, he ordered that objects passing an official test or ‘assay’ should be marked with a leopard’s head.
Edward’s grandson, Edward III, granted a charter to the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths 27 years later, and all objects made from gold had to be sent to the Goldsmiths’ Hall in London for assaying and approval. Hence the word ‘hallmark’.
Regional assay offices in England for silver were set up later in Sheffield, Birmingham, York, Exeter, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norwich and Chester. In Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow had assay offices, and in Ireland there was an office in Dublin. Sheffield, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Dublin survive. Of the others, some (Chester and Glasgow) lasted well into the 20th century, while others (Norwich, closed 1702) have been long gone.
Aug 3, 2025
When John Nicholson’s sold an exceptionally rare Louis Vuitton wardrobe steamer trunk dating from the 1920s or earlier for £162,500 including premium on June 11, it hit the headlines.Now, only a month later, another Explorer trunk has sold at the auctioneer’s for £90,000, and consignors are queuing up to sell at the Fernhurst rooms. With a third making £6,750, that’s a total of £259,250 from three lots in two sales.
The £162,500 Explorer trunk sold in June was covered in zinc, copper, brass or aluminium to cope with the singular challenges of tropical climates.The company made just a few of these, and all in 1892, although released later. The 44 x 22 x 21½in wardrobe steamer trunk at John Nicholson’s Fernhurst rooms had the unique sales number 748929. Dating to the early 1920s or earlier, it was missing the paper label and almost all the internal fittings, though those that remained identified it as a double hanging wardrobe trunk rather that one with a chest of drawers to one side.The surviving central catch was engraved with the Louis Vuitton name, Champs Elysée and the original London address of the company, 149 New Bond Street, opened in 1900 and closed in 2010 when the store moved across the road.It attracted 11 bidders, with the successful buyer attending the sale in person.
That success attracted two trunks to John Nicholson’s July 23 auction.
The first was another early 20th century Louis Vuitton Explorer trunk carrying the sales number 42316 on the later Strand label to the interior. Intriguingly, the original Oxford Street address printed on the label was crossed out and superseded by a printed address for the company’s new address in The Strand.The move took place in 1889, but this trunk was later, and it appears that instead of throwing away the old labels, they kept the stock going with this adjustment for some years. Although not as rare as the earlier trunk, it carried an estimate of £20,000-30,000, but went on to sell for £90,000.
Separately, a Louis Vuitton travelling trunk with the sales number 30539, handwritten on surviving label to the interior, took a high estimate £6,750.Now the auctioneer has revealed that further consignments are already on the way, with one of them being a Courier trunk dating to c.1885-90 slated for sale in the autumn with an estimate of £6,000-8,000.Featuring beige and brown stripes to the exterior and reinforced with wooden battens and brass catches and corner braces riveted to the leather strapwork, this trunk has a detailed provenance that includes a voyage to South Africa during the Boer War in 1900 on the Union Castle shipping line.
“It’s clear that the results we have had recently for Louis Vuitton luggage have established our reputation as the saleroom of choice for such pieces,” said John Nicholson. “We already have further consignments, and the phone is ringing with additional enquiries.”
Jul 14, 2025
This time of year is what the media call the Silly Season, traditionally a period when news is thin on the ground and reporters will file copy on bizarre tales that wouldn’t normally make it into print. They do this because many newspapers and news websites are working on skeleton staff during the holidays and are under more pressure to fill the space available. It’s an ideal time to look out for articles on the weird and wonderful things that have sold at auction.
I recently trawled through the archives with this in mind and here are a few of things I came up with:
- William Shatner’s kidney stone. That’s right, in 2006 the Starship Enterprise’s former Captain Kirk raised $25,000 for charity with this tasteless offering.
- A grandmother. Ten-year-old Zoe Pemberton put her grandma, Marion Goodall, up for auction on eBay in 2010. The site shut the sale down when the price reached £20,000.
- Lee Harvey Oswald’s coffin. After JFK’s assassin was exhumed in 1981 to check that a body double had not been buried in his place, he was reburied in a new coffin. The original one fetched nearly $90,000.
- New Zealand. In 2006 an Australian man set a starting pricing of one Australian cent for the country. eBay also closed down this sale… when bidding reached Aus$3,000.
While it may be the Silly Season, it is also the approach of the Grouse Season. This is an area of pheasant shoots, and while those ready to take aim will have to wait until October 1 for that, August 12 is the start of the Red Grouse season.
While blasting birds out of the sky has never been my passion, the paintings of game birds by Archibald Thorburn are. His depictions of pheasant, grouse and ptarmigan are pre-eminent among British bird painters of the past century, as prices at auction will confirm. A decent watercolour of any of these birds in a moorland setting will have no problem encouraging bids up to the £25,000 mark.
Collectors have long taken aim at Thorburn, but I suppose he really came into his own when the popularity of shooting spread from the landed gentry to commercial shoots in the 1980s.
Born the son of a miniaturist painter who worked for Queen Victoria near Edinburgh in 1860, Thorburn had little to no formal training except for a brief stint at art school in St John’s Wood. What really set him on the road to his life’s work was a stroke of luck. In 1887 when the Dutch artist J.G. Keulemans fell ill, Thorburn took over the commission from Lord Lilford of Northampton to complete the illustrations for the seven-volume Coloured Figures of the Birds of the British Islands. By the time he finished his career had taken flight.
Jun 17, 2025
I have just completed a Q&A for a trade magazine, and it made me think, once again, of how the public view not just auctions but the wider art and antiques trade. While there are still a few people running cobweb-ridden, cluttered shops in country backwaters, where the stock seems to have been there from new, don’t make the mistake of thinking that auction houses and dealers are still living in the Dark Ages.
The auction process is both more complicated and exciting than retail, and that means we must have technology that is able to do a lot more than just complete a customer’s order online.
Live bidding, previewing lots for sale with multiple images, registering bidders from dozens of different countries, fulfilling our obligations under due diligence and other regulations means we must be at the top of our game all the time.
I’m delighted to say that this is as much a young man and woman’s game these days.
The excitement of buying and selling, collecting and doing deals knows no barrier when it comes to age or generation. It’s just the things that we choose to trade in that change over the years.
Thinking about this, it never ceases to amaze me how what are, frankly, in my opinion a series of unattractive daubs flung together in the name of Contemporary art can make millions at auction when highly accomplished and rather beautiful Victorian landscapes can be had for buttons.
I suppose that fashions change and, with them, tastes. Don’t get me wrong, I think a great deal of Modern and Contemporary art has a lot to offer, but it is also rife with mountebanks. However, the flipside of what has been a rather subdued market for late Victorian and Edwardian painting is that you can pick up stunning art for very little indeed.
Just browsing through one of the online auction platforms the other day, I worked out that, with a fair wind behind me, I could fill a whole wall with stunning Victorian and Edwardian watercolours for less than £2,000. Some of the pictures looked a bit tired, but closer inspection revealed that they simply needed a new mount and frame, and at these prices this was very much a realistic option.
I have no idea whether art like this will enjoy a renaissance in years to come – although it certainly deserves to – but those cherry picking now will be in the best position to capitalise if it does. And if prices remain in the doldrums, well they will have a fantastic selection of art gracing their walls, which they will never tire of.
Jun 16, 2025
John Nicholson’s are seeking a SALEROOM TRAINEE.
Although no formal qualifications are required for this position, you must be able to contribute to work which involves reasonable physical lifting.
Other qualities required:
– Driver (full clean licence)
– IT literate
– Good telephone manner
– Available to work at least one Saturday per month
Please send your cv in the first instance to Phil Hildreth at phil.hildreth@johnnicholsons.com
May 19, 2025
June is the highlight of the year for the British art market, with dealers and collectors flying in from all over the world to take part in art and antiques fairs and auctions, and innumerable gallery shows also open.
While all this activity is largely based in London, all sorts of things worth visiting are going on outside the capital too.
You’ll never go wrong with a visit to Petworth – the Antiques Capital of the South, as it is known – and you can follow this up with tickets for the Petworth Summer Festival in July.
While schools and universities start to celebrate the end of exams and wind down for the summer, it will be business as usual across the regions auction rooms, and one of the best times of year to look for something special, with everyone else distracted.
I’ll be holding at least four cracking auctions a month, including specialist sales in Oriental works, fine antiques and paintings, so there’s bound to be something in there for you somewhere.
Meanwhile, think about the sporting occasions from May to July that inspire us – and themed sales: the F.A. Cup Final, the Derby, Royal Ascot, The British Lions tour, Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix, and, of course, our own Goodwood Festival of Speed. And this list doesn’t even begin to cover August, which will see The Hundred, cricket’s explosive festival where every ball counts, and the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Big money is to be had when it comes to anything collectable directly associated with global sporting superstars. Lionel Messi’s six World Cup match-worn shirts from 2022, took $7.8 million at auction in December 2023, while Diego Maradona’s Hand of God jersey sold for $9.3 million in 2022. Tennis memorabilia linked to Nadal and Federer is already reaching the $100,000 mark – so start collecting Sinner and Alcaraz shirts and racquets now if you can manage to get your hands on them courtside.
It promises to be a wonderful summer!
