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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Viking Age Bronze Bracelet with Zig-Zag Design
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
Engraved vertically between clusters of ribs, the penannular hoop with a convex outer face and expanded central section. 113 grams, 75 mm wide
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Viking Age Bronze Wolf-Head Strap Distributor
9th-12th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £315
Comprising an outer ring with wolf mask in low relief at the centre. 3.4 grams, 26 mm
Ex property of an American collector; acquired 1980-2000. -
Viking Silver-Gilt Pendant with Odin Gripping Two Ravens
9th-10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £293
Border enclosing a low-relief image of a male facing mask between two birds embraced at the necks; with integral loop. 2.8 grams, 20 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Viking Age Silver Lozenge-Shaped Pendant with Cross
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
Formed using openwork, pellets to border; integral suspension loop. 5.8 grams, 34 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Viking Age Silver Earring
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
Composed of a round-section hoop with decoratively twisted wire collars, graduated bulbs adorned with granules. 11.4 grams, 35 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Pre-Viking Iron Slave Chain Shackle
6th-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £442
Comprising thirty-eight 8-shaped iron links, with interstitial H-shaped twisted elements; securing ring at the upper end; iron ring at the lower end with thick linked ring and two substantial shackles, each a pair of parallel bars with a loop at each end; attached to each a flat rectangular-section fetter with substantial retaining rivet. 4.45 kg, 2.57 m long
Acquired 1971-1972. From the collection of the vendor's father. Property of a London, UK, collector.
The shackles are formed with an elliptical void in order to accommodate a human foot, closed with an iron rivet which could not have been easily removed without heating the metal. -
Viking Age Bronze Key with Quatrefoil-Shaped Handle
9th-13th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £160
In openwork, circular lugs to the bow and stem, cruciform and circular motifs to the bit. 15.3 grams, 77 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Viking Age Silver Axe Pendant
Circa 9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £111
Composed of a free-running wedge-shaped head with sun burst to one face and repoussé pellets to the cutting edge, suspended on a slender carinated ring. 2.99 grams, 40 mm
Ex UK collection since the 1990s. -
Viking Age Bronze Penannular Brooch with Dragon
Circa 10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £468
The hoop with a stylised zoomorphic design representing a bird, decorative collars and articulate tongue with openwork geometric dragon motif with head modelled in the half-round; long pin lost in antiquity. 37 grams, 59 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Viking Age Bronze Bracelet with Rope Design
8th-10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
Composed of a child-sized penannular hoop with tapering terminals and expanded central section. 93 grams, 66 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Viking Age Silver Lunate Pendant
8th-10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £247
Comprising a ribbed suspension loop, surface divided into panels of granule clusters. 3.62 grams, 29 mm
Acquired on the German art market before 2000. From an old Munich collection. -
Viking Age Bronze Stamped Bracelet with Beast Head Terminals
8th-10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £221
Composed of a penannular hoop with carinated outer face, punched triangles containing pellets. 39 grams, 71 mm wide
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.