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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Natural History - Stony Iron Meteorite
Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
With typically rough surfaces. 118 grams, 57 mm
From the Sahara Desert, Morocco, North Africa. From an old Oxfordshire, UK, fossil and mineral collection. -
Celtic Iron Age Coins - Iceni - 'Irstead Trefoil' - Gold Quarter Stater 1st century B.C.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
Obv: latticed square on opposed crescents with branch above and below and pellet-in-annulet at corners. Rev: horse right with traces of open trefoil above and pellet-in-annulet below. 0.95 grams.
Good fine. Scarce.
Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman. -
Anglo-Saxon Coins - Primary Phase - Series C, Type 2 - Portrait AR Sceatta 680-710 A.D.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £85
Obv: radiate bust right with Runic Tepa before, two pellet-in-annulets below. Rev: votive TOTII standard with cross at sides and T at corners. 1.02 grams.
Near very fine.
Acquired Tim Owen, March 1994. Ex Tony Abramson collection. Published SCBI 69, no.82. Spink sale 21060, lot 605. Property of a UK gentleman. Accompanied by two coin tickets. Acquired Timeline Auctions. Property of a Kent gentleman. -
Anglo-Saxon Coins - Primary Phase - Series C - Portrait AR Sceatta 680-710 A.D.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £416
Obv: radiate bust right, runic FMCF. Rev: variety C1, standard, TOTII; variety C2, four crosses abutting around the central standard. 1.17 grams.
Extremely fine condition; as struck.
Ex late John Cross collection, Canterbury, UK. Acquired Canterbury Auction Galleries, 3 October 2021, lot 569 (part). Property of two Kent sisters, by gift from their parents. -
Anglo-Saxon Coins - Secondary Phase - Series J Type 37 - Double Portrait AR Sceatta 710-760 A.D.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
Obv: two diademed heads face-to-face, long cross in centre with tripod base, within pelleted border. Rev: four birds clockwise around small cross, within a border of two pelleted circles. 1.13 grams.
Near extremely fine.
Ex late John Cross collection, Canterbury, UK. Acquired Canterbury Auction Galleries, 3 October 2021, lot 569 (part). Property of two Kent sisters, by gift from their parents. -
Anglo-Saxon Coins - Secondary Phase - Series V - Wolf and Twins AR Sceatta 710-760 A.D.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £546
Obv: tall wolf standing right with head down and looking back to suckling twins seated below, within a beaded border. Rev: songbird facing away with head right and closed beak pecking berries set between two stems, within a beaded border. 0.91 grams.
Good fine. Rare.
Ex late John Cross collection, Canterbury, UK. Acquired Canterbury Auction Galleries, 3 October 2021, lot 569 (part). Property of two Kent sisters, by gift from their parents. -
Anglo-Saxon Coins - Northumbria - Eadberht - Beast AR Sceatta 737-758 A.D.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
Class D. Obv: small cross with EOTBEREHTVΓ· legend. Rev: stylised beast (lion/stag?) left with cross under tail and triquetra below. 0.99 grams.
Good very fine. Scarce.
Found Yorkshire, UK. -
Anglo-Saxon Coins - Northumbria - Aethelred I - Inscription AR Sceatta 790-796 A.D.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Second reign. Obv: pellet in pelletted annulet with +AEDILRED legend. Rev: pellet in pelletted annulet with +CEOLBALD legend for the moneyer Ceolbald. 1.16 grams.
Very fine. Scarce.
Property of a Leeds collector, UK. -
Anglo-Saxon Coins - Aethelred II - Winchester / Brihtsige - Long Cross AR Penny 997-1003 A.D.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £442
BMC type IVa. Obv: profile bust with +ÆÐELRED REX ΛNGLO legend. Rev: long voided cross with each limb terminating in three crescents dividing +BYR HSIG EMΩO PINT legend for the moneyer Brihtsige at Winchester mint. 1.75 grams.
Very fine; slightly double struck.
Ex Alfa Numismatics, Auction 11, lot 47. -
Anglo-Saxon Coins - Cnut - London / Wulfric - Pointed Helmet AR Penny 1024-1030 A.D.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £364
BMC type xiv. Obv: profile bust with pointed helmet and sceptre with CNVT RECX legend. Rev: short voided cross with pellet in annulets at centre with pellet in crescent to angles and +PVLRICONLVNDE legend for the moneyer Wulfric at London mint. 0.92 grams.
Good very fine; Viking 'peck marks' to cheek and reverse.
Ex A J Shawcroft and J Simpson collections. From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection. Accompanied by two named coin tickets. -
Anglo-Saxon Coins - Edward the Confessor - Thetford / Atsere - Facing Bust AR Penny 1024-1030 A.D.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
BMC type xiii. Obv: facing bust with EDPARD REHX A legend. Rev: small cross with +ATSERONÐETFOR legend for the moneyer Atsere at Thetford mint. 1.04 grams.
Very fine.
Ex Clarendon collection, part 1, Glendinings, March 2006. From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection. Accompanied by a coin ticket. -
Anglo-Saxon Coins - Edward the Confessor - York / Othbern - Facing Bust Penny 1062-1065 A.D.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £182
BMC type xiii. Obv: facing bust with EADPARD REXANG legend. Rev: small cross with annulet in first quarter and +OÐRENONEOFR[ ] legend for the moneyer Othbern at York mint. 0.91 grams.
Very fine; dark tone, chipped and repaired.
Acquired Nantwich Auctions. Property of a Kent gentleman.