Auction Highlights
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Etruscan Painted Terracotta Architectural Cornice
Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,900
A fragment of amorphous form, decorated in relief with scrolling tendrils and anthemion, painted egg-and-dart ornament above, surmounted by moulded bands and a frieze of meander and chequerboard panels; remains of red and black painted pigment. -
Roman Bronze Eros Cradling Goose Applique
Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,950
Formed as the bust of Eros looking upwards, stub wings to his shoulders, holding a goose to his chest; conical socket above each wing; eyes with silver inserts; old collector's label '1994 51.75' to the reverse; mounted on a custom-made stand; likely a socket base. -
Roman Silver-Gilt Military Buckle for an Elite Imperial Officer
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7,800
Comprising a rectangular plate, richly decorated with embossed laurel leaves in a grid, framed with raised bosses, the buckle loop comprising opposing dragons with open mouths, holding a spherical tongue-rest, another pair of smaller dragon heads to base, the tongue with a smaller pair of punch-decorated dragon heads. -
South Arabian Bronze Bowl with Mythical Animals
Sold for (Inc. bp): £5,850
Hemispherical in form, repoussé interior displaying graduated concentric registers of stylised and mythical animals within tessellating cartouches; a low relief mesomphalos decorated with rosette at centre; geometric ornament around the rim. -
Assyrian Bronze Relief Fragment
Sold for (Inc. bp): £16,900
Displaying a corrugated rim above and below; two advancing soldiers, each striding forwards over the headless body of a dead enemy, carrying a severed head in each hand; the soldiers shown bearded and each wearing a pointed and segmented helmet with a recess to accommodate the ears, a cuirass and thigh-length tunic, with a bow over one shoulder and a sword slung from a waist belt; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Bronze Age Gold Bracelet with Torc-Shaped Terminals
Sold for (Inc. bp): £11,440
Of penannular form with expanded sections at the centre and to both shoulders. -
'The Oving' Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Great Square-Headed Brooch
Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,160
Comprising a rectangular headplate with two panels of chip-carved Style I ornament, flanking a beast-head with triangular muzzle and two pellet eyes, raised three-sided frame and outer band of pellets above beast-heads with lentoid eyes; the shallow bow with raised median rib, flanges to the edges and punched pellet detailing; footplate with beast-head between curved pellet lines, pierced horse-head lappets, lozengiform central panel with knot of Style I limbs; two lateral discs, one pierced to accept a stud and the other with a domed stud in place; the finial a disc with human mask inverted; pin-lug and part of catch to the reverse. -
Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Great Square-Headed Brooch
Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,900
Displaying chased panels populated with Style I zoomorphs and geometric forms, borders of annulets, raised masks to the upper corners of the headplate; applied discoid boss to bow decorated with a rosette, addorsed beast heads below; extensive remains of gilding; pin lug and catchplate to reverse and remains of ancient repair, lower part absent. -
'The Tenby' Hiberno-Norse Viking Penannular Brooch
Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,640
Comprising a round-section crescent with flared ends terminating in two curved spatulate flat panels, each with a ropework border surrounding a two-band knotwork motif; cleaned and conserved. -
Medieval Oil Painting of Sorrowful Virgin
Sold for (Inc. bp): £9,100
The weeping Virgin with her head bowed to the left and hands raised to her chest on a dotted gilt background, an expression of pain on her delicately formed face; wearing a white veil and a black long-sleeved robe, the veil arranged as a headdress and covering her hair; on wood and mounted in a later carved wooden architectural frame. -
Medieval Stained Glass Panel With Saint Martin on Horseback
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,080
Shown beneath an arcade, offering his cloak on the end of his sword to the beggar at his feet; polychrome detailing; repaired with lead cames and held in a wooden frame. -
Medieval Stained Glass Panel with The Virgin and Child
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,860
Composed from irregular painted panels bearing mainly foliage designs and figural elements; Mary crowned and enthroned with infant Jesus on her knee, in a lobed vesica-shaped panel held with lead cames; mounted in a wooden frame with modern replacements. -
Medieval Stone Column Capital with Lion and Human Face
Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,950
Carved in the half-round with a frieze composed of interlaced foliage with two rows of acanthus leaves and foliage scrolls, framing a lion's head on one side and a human head on the other, remains of lion's mane to the third; drilled holes to the raised surfaces and sockets for the insertion of decorative stones. -
'The Kirkleavington' Medieval Bronze Inscribed Purse Frame
Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,640
The bar with central D-shaped block pierced vertically by a stud surmounted by the suspension loop, with four pierced flanges to the underside; the frame in two sections, the larger a U-shaped rod with pivot for the bar, the smaller pivoting within the inner face, both pierced on the inner face; the block inscribed to one face with capital S and to the other with intersecting Vs; the bar inscribed to one face in capitals 'A DOMINI TECVM' and to the other in coarsely incised capitals 'AVEMARIA G[R]ACIAPLE[NA]'; the smaller rod inscribed in capitals 'CREATOREN CELI ET TERRE ET IN [IES]VN'; the larger inscribed with a band of scrolled decoration and the text in Lombardic capitals 'SOLI DEO HONOR ET GLORIA'; the accompanying letter discusses the texts (1) Ave Maria G[r]acia ple[n]a Dominus Tecum 'Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord [is] with thee'; (2) Soli Deo Honor et Gloria 'Honour and glory to God alone'; (3) Creatorem celi et terrae et inferum 'creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus'. The intersecting Vs may form a monogram for A[ve] M[aria]; the 1847 letter describes the findspot as 'found at Kirkleavington near Yarm in the sill of a brook' in the North Riding of Yorkshire. -
'The Roxwell' Medieval Gold Signet Ring of 'King's Serjeant William Skrene'
Sold for (Inc. bp): £23,400
Gold hoop and discoid bezel with incuse ropework border; incuse image of a bird of prey perching with wings spread and head turned; blackletter incuse and reversed inscription in an arc above the bird's head and pinions '·al : for : ye : best ·' (all for the best); repair to hoop. -
Medieval Silver 'Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland' Royal Hawking Vervel
Sold for (Inc. bp): £9,750
Or a leg ring inscribed '+Earle of Rutland' in derivative black letter script, for a female merlin or sparrow hawk (due to the youth of Edmund Plantagenet who died aged 17); the ring with a convex interior face. -
Post Medieval Gold Memento Mori Ring with Inscribed Posy 'In God Alone Wee Two Are One'
Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,680
Displaying large flower heads, foliage and a skull to the outer face, enhanced with black enamelling; interior inscribed in a cursive script 'In god alone wee two are one', together with possible maker's stamps 'D' and 'F' in two rectangular cartouches. -
Heavy Post Medieval Gold 'Love Is The Bond Of Pease' Posy Ring
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,860
Composed of a gently carinated hoop, the interior inscribed in cursive script 'Love is the bond of pease'. -
Post Medieval Gold 'Live Life to the Full' Decorated Posy Ring
Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,380
Composed of a decoratively notched hoop divided into chased rhomboidal panels displaying foliate tendrils and horizontal hatching alternately; the interior inscribed in Roman capitals with the Latin phrase: 'x x x x VIVE x VT x VIVAS'. -
English Milled Coins - George VI - 1937 - Cased RM Proof Coronation Gold Set [4]
Sold for (Inc. bp): £11,700
Set comprising gold five pounds, two pounds, sovereign and half sovereign. Obvs: profile bust with GEORGIVS VI D G BR OMN REX F D IND IMP legends. Revs: St George and dragon; date in exergue; with original Royal Mint hinged red leatherette case of issue.
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Medieval Early Iron 'Ice Crampon' Collection
15th-16th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Mounted on a framed back board for display. 1 kg, 38.5 x 32 cm
Acquired 1960s-1990s. Late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister. -
Norman Bronze Hinged Swivel with Facing Rearing Beasts
10th-12th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £26
Articulated swivel from a hunting dog's leash with openwork detailing. 8.58 grams, 44 mm
Found Cambridgeshire, UK. -
Medieval Iron Bell Group
14th-16th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Comprising bells of various types and sizes, most retaining their suspension loop and working clapper providing a variety of tones. 1.2 kg total, 3.4-11.4 cm
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection. -
Medieval Ceramic Group
15th century A.D. and laterSold for (Inc. bp): £65
Composed of fragments of decorated vessels, a glazed lid and chipped pots with remains of glaze and handles. 6.5 kg total, 6-37 cm
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection. -
Medieval 'Thames' Pewter 'MATILDIS FIL WALTER GRAFAGIS' Seal Matrix
Circa 14th-15th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
Of vesica type of a lead-alloy, displaying a fleur-de-lis at centre with surrounding 'S' MATILDIS FIL WALTERI FAGIS' legend, suspension loop above and shallow ridge to reverse; accompanied by an impression. 18 grams, 5.3 grams
Found Billingsgate spoil from the Thames foreshore, London, UK. -
Anglo-Norman Zoomorphic Fitting
11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
Wedge-shaped in plan with rectangular fitting hole and the upper portion of a stylised feline head with gaping mouth, cylindrical in section. 6 grams, 2.5 cm
Found Pembroke area, Pembrokeshire, 1980s-2000s. Property of the finder. -
Medieval Period Eastern Bronze Oil Lamp
Circa 13th-15th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £21
The squat spherical body with ring handle and tripod feet, decorated with raised motifs and openwork foliage ornament. 398 grams, 18 cm
English collection, 1990s. Ex property of a Suffolk, UK, gentleman. -
Medieval Bronze Knife Pommel Group
Circa 1500 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Both in the shape of crowns and with bifacial decoration. 17.6 grams total, 18 mm each
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Medieval Ceramic Group
15th century A.D. and laterSold for (Inc. bp): £33
Composed of glazed and unglazed vessels including a small tankard, skillet, handled cup, spouted jar and other vessels, together with a statuette of a baboon; chipped and cracked. 3.4 kg total, 7-34 cm
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection. -
Medieval Pewter Pilgrim Badge of Saint Nicholas
Circa 1300 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £546
Tongue-shaped panel with hatched reverse; facing image of St. Nicholas in episcopal robes holding his crook in his left hand and raising his right hand in bnison; frieze of devotees below; legend to the arch '+ S NICOΓAID ·:· EDOR[.]'. 4.71 grams, 41 mm
From the Forgeais (1822-1878) collection, France, thence by family descent. with Gallery 51, 21 June 2013, lot 71. -
Medieval Stained Glass Panel with The Crucifixion
Netherlands, circa 1500 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £494
Two nimbate figures standing either side; polychrome detailing; panel within a lead came border with repair and two modern suspension loops to top edge. 269 grams, 20.2 cm
Private collection, Paris. -
Medieval Glazed Pottery Group
15th century A.D. and laterSold for (Inc. bp): £13
Comprising vessels of various types and sizes, including a decorated bowl, a lid, tripod vessels and examples retaining their handles. 6.1 kg total, 11-32 cm
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.