Silver secures record result at Tennants auction house in North Yorkshire

The 173 lots sold for £188,570 (plus buyer’s premium), more than doubling the bottom estimate, with a very strong selling rate of 93%.

Buyers were out in force, with the lots from private collections being particularly well received.

From a private collection of silver hailed a set of twelve George III silver soup plates from the Pelham Service, made by Paul Storr in London in 1808. Sold for £12,500, the plates were once part of a service made for Charles Anderson Pelham (1748-1823) of Brocklesby, Lincolnshire, later created Earl of Yarborough, and his wife Sophie, and were engraved with their coat-of-arms.

From the same collection came a George III and later table service and dessert service, mostly by Paul Storr after a design by Thomas Stothard, which sold for £9,000.

From the estate of Ian Stephenson of The Laithes, Penrith, was a set of four George III silver entrée dishes and covers by William Stroud, London, 1816 that sold for £6,000, and a Queen Anne Provincial Silver Tankard which was made in Newcastle, probably in 1712 that sold for £1,050. Two interesting spoons from the contents of a private house, St Judes, Isle of Man sold well over estimate, too, with a Queen Anne Scottish Silver hash spoon made by James Tait of Edinburgh in 1706 selling for £4,500, and a George III Irish Provincial Silver basting spoon made by George Moore of Limerick circa 1770 selling for £1,800.

From a private vendor was an impressive pair of George IV silver-mounted Antico Rosso marble wine-coolers by Samuel Jackson, London, 1821 and 1822 that sold for £8,500.

The jewellery in the sale saw exceptional prices, too, and the section of 94 lots achieved a 93.5% selling rate. The singular magic of black opals was certainly reflected in the sale results, with strong prices seen for an impressive early 20th century black opal and diamond necklace (sold for £19,000), a black opal pendant (sold for £3,800), and a Victorian opal and diamond pendant (sold for £2,800).

Period jewellery was in demand too, with a Victorian diamond and enamel cluster ring selling for £11,000, an Edwardian diamond necklace selling for £10,000, and an Edwardian diamond pendant selling for £11,000.

Modern jewellery from desirable makers sold well too, exemplified by a Diamond Flower Brooch by Van Cleef and Arpels, which sold for £11,000.

Good diamonds continued to sell strongly, with a diamond pendant with a fancy light yellow pear shaped central diamond selling for £14,000, a diamond solitaire ring selling for £12,000, and a diamond three stone ring selling for £8,500, all well above estimate.

Amongst the watches in the sale, those by Rolex continued to demand very strong prices, especially those sold with their original guarantee and paperwork. Examples included are a 1966 Rolex Explorer (ref: 1016) that sold for £13,000, and a 1994 Rolex GMT Master II (ref: 16710) with a ‘Coke’ bezel that sold for £9,000.

A further rare Rolex, a 1967 Submariner (ref: 5513), which exhibits the ‘meters first’ dial and the very first version with matte finish dial, sold for £11,000.

The top lot of the section and the sale, however, was a 1973 Cartier Tank Normale in 18 carat gold, which soared well above its £2,000-3,000 estimate to sell for £19,500.

Amongst the pocket watches, notable highlights included a karussel pocket watch, which rarely appear at auction. The 18 carat gold Full Hunter Karussel Pocket Watch was made by Alex Moncrieff of Edinburgh in 1899 and sold for £3,000.

The sale achieved a total hammer price of £633,690 with an 88% sold rate for 333 lots. Full sale results are available at: www.tennants.co.uk