Bear necessities are up at auction
ABIG hug is to go under the hammer in the forthcoming auction at the Old Wool Mart – and it’s expected to make at least a couple of thousand pounds. Hug is, believe it or not, the collective noun for teddy bears. The description was coined by the film actor and famous arctophile (teddy bear collector) Peter Bull half a century ago. One of Bull’s books on the subject was titled ‘A Hug of Teddy Bears’.
Our hug is very posh, extending to twenty teddies plus their piggy, badger, squirrel and rabbit friends, all of whom were made by the famous Steiff company. The collection was amassed over a number of years and whilst it does not include any of the antique bears that can make mega-bucks, it is valuable. Pre-sale estimates are mostly in the £50-£100 range, so the 25 lots could quite easily hit a total of two thousand pounds.
The auction on Tuesday October 6th is the latest in a series of sales taking place during the Coronavirus crisis that have taken us and the rest of the nation’s auction rooms by surprise. Quite unexpectedly business has boomed. Large quantities of antiques, jewellery, collectables and valuables have flooded into salerooms after the easing of the national lockdown. Added to that buyer interest in auctions has rocketed, with unprecedented numbers registering to bid online.
The result has been some really good sales. This auction at the Old Wool Mart is awash with fascinating entries ranging from ultra-high value jewellery through to terrific silver and collectables.
The star of the show is a magnificent 4.2 carat solitaire diamond ring that is expected to make £20,000£25,000. It is the most valuable piece of jewellery that we have put under the hammer since a ring with a similarly sized diamond made £19,800 in an auction almost a year ago. (Snapped up by a private buyer from northern Lincolnshire.)
These large, fine, diamonds obviously come at quite a cost but our specialist gem consultants advise us that in a retail jewellers such a solitaire ring could quite easily have a price tag at least twice as high.
The silver section of the auction has some particularly interesting entries including an exceptional silver tea and coffee set presented in 1865 to the mathematician Henry Martyn Taylor by his former schoolfellows at Wakefield Grammar School after he made ‘third wrangler’ at Cambridge.
A wrangler is a student who gains first class honours in the university’s mathematics degree course. The senior wrangler is the top scoring student, followed by the second wrangler, third wrangler and so on. Tempting to suggest that Henry only came third – until we hear the wranglership described as ‘the
greatest intellectual achievement attainable’.
The impressive rococo style silver service made by the London silversmith Robert Harper weighs in at over 80 ounces and is expected to make £1,000-£2,000. Other noteworthy entries include a very nice pair of Japanese bronze vases of the Meiji period (18681912), a good selection of paintings and collectables ranging from some nice Beswick Beatrix Potter figures to one of the French bulldog inkwells that were one of the much loved novelties of the Victorian period. The full auction catalogue is available on the firm’s website (www.johntaylors.com). The viewing sessions are on the afternoon of Sunday 4th October and the afternoon of Monday 5th and are by pre-booked time slots (01507-611107). There will be no pre-sale viewing on the morning of Tuesday’s auction (6th October). Attendance at the auction will be by pre-booked place.
ACROSS
1. Coils, spins (6) 7. Uneatable (8)
8. Organ of flight (4)
10. Girl’s name (6)
11. Small restaurant (6) 14. Novel (3)
16. Stair part (5)
17. Pace (4)
19. Allude (5)
21. Conceals (5)
22. Putrefy (2,3)
23. At that time (4)
26. South Korean capital (5) 28. Whiskey grain (3)
29. Introduce gradually (6) 30. Scold harshly (6)
31. Precious stone (4) 32. Parlour game (8)
33. Couch (6)
DOWN
1. Difficult question (6) 2. Private evening party (6) 3. Indication (4)
4. Respects highly (7) 5. Adjoins (5)
6. Spanish man (5) 8. Desire (4)
9. At this moment (3) 12. Knight’s title (3)
13. Theatrical
entertainment (5)
15. Bravery award (5)
18. Foreign (5)
19. Chest bone (3)
20. Gave food to (3)
21. Vacation (7)
22. Intestine (3)
23. Despot (6)
24. Cure (4)
25. Stylus (6)
26. Because (5)
27. Academy Award (5) 28. Agent (3)
30. Employer (4)