Well, another year has come and gone, and what a fantastic year it has been.
We’ve held over 50 auctions; sold close to 20,000 lots; registered buyers from over 105 countries worldwide; and taken well over 100,000 photographs along the way!
I’m very proud of the team, who’ve worked tirelessly to get us to this point. As an international internet business, with some of the best specialists in the country, the results speak for themselves. With a combination of high-quality catalogue descriptions, high-res photography, and a dynamic marketing approach, we hope to expand our reach even further in 2023.
In January, we’re delighted to welcome Alex Butcher to the team to head up our silver department. He is one of the UK’s leading authorities on silver, and joins us from Lawrences Auctioneers of Crewkerne, Somerset. Originally from Warwickshire, he spent nearly 15 years as silver specialist with Christies and Phillips, before moving out of London in the late 1990’s to work as a Director at Woolley and Wallis in Salisbury and then Lawrences.
Alex is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmith’s and the City of London. He is also a member of the Antique Plate Committee and a Liveryman of the Goldsmiths Company. He has contributed to various publications on silver and is a member of the Silver Spoon Club of Great Britain. To date, he has personally curated over 750 silver auctions.
With over 20 specialist departments, the highlights of the year were as diverse as they were numerous. Back in January, we smashed our in-house record for a single item, selling Banksy’s Merrivale Stable for a cool £1 million (inc fees). Since then, other items of note included the original builder’s draught of the Sydney Harbour Bridge by Cyril Arthur Farey at £26,000; a stunning oil painting ‘Haymaking at Millers Farm’ by Sheila Fell at £30,000; and a private collection of Lucie Rie Studio ceramics at nearly £50,000, to name but a few.
…and we’re not finished there. As I write this, we have more treasures for auction this week in our Christmas Country House & Fine Interiors Auction, including a breath-taking candelabra by the most famous of all 19th Century silversmiths Paul Storr; and a fine and locally important early 18th Century year-going longcase clock from the old Mansion House, Newcastle.
In other news, we’ve greatly reduced the amount of printed material we produce, opting for a digital-first approach. Our new user-friendly PDF catalogues developed specially for our fine sales have been a huge success. I’m glad you like them…Oh and always remember, buying at auction is some of the best recycling you can do - much better for the planet than buying new.
Many of our clients are now using our sister company ‘A&G Land & Property Agents’. Whether you require a sale by private treaty, a current valuation, or a sale by auction, the feedback so far is especially appreciative of the one-to-one service offered by our property specialist Gareth Jones. If you have a property to sell, give him a call.
As always, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all - our wonderful customers - for your continued support. We’re hitting the ground running again in 2023 with an action-packed auction schedule, kicking off with a Homes & Interiors Auction on 10th of January, but for now, the team and I would like to wish you a happy Christmas & prosperous New Year.
Julian Thomson
Managing Director
