Well it’s time for another round-up of the strange and amusing from our local auction house.
However first … If you’re Rupert Bear enthusiast get down to Bainbridge’s for this week’s sale, because it’s literally stuffed with Rupert memorabilia etc.
And so to some curiosities I spotted in this sale.
An oil of a man watering his horses in a river by BF Foster, signed and dated 1911, gilt frame
I’ve heard it called many things before but …!
Two Continental silver articulated fish, both with red eyes, one of slender form with unicorn hallmark … with removable head and interior fitted as a vinaigrette, probably 19th century, the other resembling a sole …
An old wooden till, Royal Doulton Sherbrooke coffee set, a glass dressing table set, various glass vases and ornaments, etc.
A large quantity of advertising ceramic items including Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, Wade toast rack, Tetley tea, Andy Capp and Flo, Wade pigs, Homepride flour men, Sunny Jim Wheatflake doll, Utterly Butterly and Tetley tea aeroplanes, Trotters Independent Reliant Robin, Bisto clock, Wallace & Gromit talking alarm clock, Dr. Who money box, Quaker Oats, 75th anniversary plate, etc., etc.
I worry that someone might actually want a Wallace & Gromit alarm clock!
Six Wade monks, four brass cannons, a collection of Platignum and Sheaffer pens, a GEC transistor radio, and a tray of silver plated flatware.
But why does a disparate collection of ecclesiastics need fountain pens and a radio?
A collection of porcelain model vegetables including cabbage, lemons, apple, asparagus, bowl of cherries, mushrooms, onion, etc., each signed with monogram AG and dated …
An old ragged monkey who has seen better days but somehow can smile through it.
Two Victorian coloured glass lead windows, one depicting a kingfisher perched on a branch looking down on a spider, and another similar.
A large pair of moose antlers affixed to a shield wall plaque.
A Huntley & Palmers biscuit tin as a lantern, of conical form, and a tin plated water flask painted in red white and blue, probably 19th century French
Four cartons of bed linen including Ralph Lauren …
¿Que?
A fabulous lotot (sic) of books for ballet lovers including signed copies by Margot Fonteyn, Julia Farrow, Pamela May, Violetta Elvin, Beryl Grey, Alicia Markova, Ninette de Valois, Robert Helpmann, etc.
A boxed Pink Panther lamp, Star Wars paraphernalia, four boxed die-cast vehicles and an ET hand puppet.
A collection of humorous and other nicknacks, including a saucy cruet, glass flower vases, a Victorian cup and saucer, animal figures, a biscuit barrel, etc.
A metal parrot cage on castors.
Best Name of the Year
