The Under the Hammer column with Tennants Auctioneers

Over recent years this traditional genre has gone from strength to strength, and Tennants is delighted to bring together the liveliest and most exciting works of Sporting Art from the 17th century to the present day under one banner.

The sale will include traditional Equestrian, Hunting and Shooting scenes alongside Wildlife and Ornithological subjects together with Dogs in Art.

Tennants has a long-standing reputation for handling significant works of Sporting Art by the likes of Heywood Hardy, J. F. Herring Senior and Junior, Archibald Thorburn, John Emms and William Woodhouse, and achieves exceptionally high selling rates for the genre. This new sale puts Tennants in an unrivalled position in the North of England to offer collectors a curated selection of some of the best lots of Sporting Art on the market.

Tennants is equally thrilled to announce a raft of changes to the 2020 calendar for Jewellery, Watches and Silver.

As of January, combined stand-alone sales for these three departments will now be held alongside the Spring, Summer and Autumn Fine auctions as well as the three Country House sales, making six dedicated auctions a year showcasing the very best of all three markets. But if you cannot wait that long, do not fret, do not fear, for 16th November sees the Autumn Fine Sale and there are treasures aplenty.

Beautiful period diamond brooches are much in evidence in the jewellery section of the sale, the indisputable star being a late Victorian brooch set with old cut diamonds (the central stone approximately 2.8carats) which is sold alongside a pearl choker enabling the brooch to become a pendant (Estimate £7,000-10,000 plus buyer’s premium).

The likely ‘top lot’ of the whole sale, however, is a diamond ring made around 1935 which is estimated at £40,000-50,000 plus bp.

The ring was purchased by the vendor’s grandfather in the 1930s and has been passed down thence by descent.

The ring is accompanied by a lab report, certifying that the central cushion-cut diamond is a staggering 3.74 carat, with E colour and VS1 clarity.

Vintage and luxury watches have seen strengthening results at auction over the last couple of years, and the Autumn Fine Art Sale sees a strong offering by the likes of Rolex, Patek Philippe, Cartier and Breitling. Rolex has been the particular name to watch at auction and a 1960 Rolex Explorer (reference 6610) is on offer with an estimate of £4,000-6,000 plus bp.

The sale also offers a good selection of Breitling chronographs, one of the earliest being a Breitling Navitimer (reference 806) made circa 1968 (estimate: £2,500-3,000 plus bp).

Silver is well represented in the sale, with the ‘top lot’ being a Harrogate branch sourced set of twelve George III silver dinner plates, made by Paul Storr in London in 1800, which have a colourful and fascinating traceable history (estimate: £10,000-15,000 plus bp).

The circular plates are stamped underneath ‘Wright 142 Strand’ which relates to John Wright of the Turk’s Hotel and Coffee House, which was re-opened at the address in 1838 after lavish building and refurnishing works.

The business was not a success, and by 1847 Wright had died and the contents of the hotels were sold at auction.

The plates were later engraved for William Lehman Ashmead Bartlett-Burdett-Coutts (1851-1921) with the crests of the Bartlett, Burdett and Coutts families.

William was born in Massachusetts but moved to England in childhood and went on to study at Oxford before working as secretary to the celebrated philanthropist Baroness Burdett-Coutts, granddaughter of the banker Thomas Coutts.

The sale also contains a glorious smorgasbord of period porcelain, glass, clocks, rugs, works of art and furniture from the past thousand years and from the four corners of the globe.

For further details please call visit www.tennants.co.uk or call 01423 531661.