Incorporating over 700 lots, the Cheffins second Fine Sale of 2022 grossed over £610,000, at the firm’s salerooms in Cambridge. Taking place on the 22nd and 23rd June, the sale saw an 86 per cent sale rate, with high prices paid within each section of the two-day auction.
Amongst the paintings, drawings and prints, the highest selling lot of the sale was a view of Venice, by Austrian artist Franz Richard Unterberger, which sold for £56,000 to a UK-based private buyer. Another highlight was a gouache picture of Actaeon and Diana, by German artist Friedrich Brentel, which sold for £30,000 to a French trade buyer. In addition, a collection of 70 works directly from Peter Biegel’s studio, achieved £5,760 for the 23 lots offered.
Franz Richard Unterberger, sold for £56,000
Leading the furniture section was £11,000 paid for a 17th century oak refectory table, which sold to a UK-based private buyers and £9,500 for an Aubusson chinoiserie tapestry, which is over triple its lower pre-sale estimate of £3,000 and sold to a buyer based in Australia.
Within the 195-lot Asian section, the highest price paid was £11,000 for a Chinese mutton fat jade archer’s ring, from the Qing Dynasty, followed by a mid-20th century porcelain Eight Immortals vase, which made £10,000.
Also offered at the auction was over 100 lots from the Grade II* listed Wood Hall in Hilgay, Norfolk. The highlight of which was a late 19th or early 20th century bronze statue of Mercury, after Giambologna, which achieved £26,000, against a pre-sale estimate of £8,000 - £12,000. Similarly, a first-hand account of The Charge of the Light Brigade, within a mixed militaria lot, sold for £8,500, over four times its pre-sale estimate of £1,000 - £2,000.
Mercury, after Giambologna, consigned from Wood Hall, Norfolk
Two pairs of gates, originally from Exning House near Newmarket, saw significant pre-sale interest. Having been discovered at a barn at the Landwade Hall Estate in Suffolk, the gates, which are believed to be 18th century, were sold for £17,000 and £11,000 apiece, to two separate UK private buyers.
Charles Ashton, Director from Cheffins says: “The Fine Sale saw a series of lots selling for in excess of their estimates over the two-day period. A combination of fresh to the market items, including the Wood Hall collection from Norfolk, and an increased demand has created the perfect storm for regional sales and has helped to feed the ever-buoyant demand for decorative furniture, paintings and antiques. Demand from not only private buyers and the trade but also the interior design industry is becoming increasingly focussed on the antiques market, which has ensured that pieces from all eras are now achieving far higher prices than a few years ago."
The prices recorded are hammer prices, not inclusive of buyers’ premium at 24.5% + VAT (29.4%).