Cabinet of curiosities

Kensington, London, on Wednesday. Paintings, posters and lithographs depicting the early years of automobiles and planes are increasing in value and the 25-lot collection features some stunning work by French poster artist Ernest Montaut and his wife, Gamy, displaying pioneering techniques such as the use of speed lines and the deliberate distortion of perspective to create the illusion of movement.

Also taking the eye are colourful posters promoting cars, early Grand Prix, Le Mans and other automobile races and rallies throughout Europe, as well as promotional images for petrol, bicycles, “flying contraptions”, the early British commercial long-range air transport company Imperial Airways and individual classic cars including the Coupe Vanderbilt and Alfa Romeo, dating back as far as 1893.

The pictorial record of early motorised travel – quite the best I have seen – should realise about £30,000. STAR lot at Tennants’ summer sale in Leyburn today is an Italian ebony-veneered, ormolu-mounted, hardstone-applied and pietra dura cabinet on stand, in the style of Enrico Bosi of Florence, parts of which date back to the 17th-century, estimated at £25,000-30,000.

Also on offer are an oak altar table, attributed to Sir George Gilbert Scott for St John’s Church, Bilton, Harrogate, circa 1860s (£800-£1,200), Barnsley painter William Mellor’s Swilla Glen, Ingleton (£3,500-£4,000) and, unusually, a 1948 Matchless G3L motorcycle, with maintenance manual and spares list (£2,500-£3,000). in World War One (previewed here), sold for £5,400 at Morton and Eden in London. The collier Thordis sent the enemy sub to the bottom by running over its periscope.