GAZETTEDISS AUCTION ROOMS - GAZETTE - SPRING 2014 - ISSUE 37

Modern Design

page 3

The Gallery Sale

pages 6-7

Gold Bars

page 8

BeswickDiss Auction Rooms - Saleroom 3Friday 2 May 2014Contact Lesley Smith

Wines & Spirits

Diss Auction Rooms- Saleroom 2Friday 2 May 2014Contact Lisa West

Rural & DomesticBygones

Saturday 22 March 2014Contact Carl Willows & Robert Kinsella

AutomobiliaDiss Auction Rooms - Saleroom 3Friday 14 March 2014

Contact Andre Ling

Friday14 March2014

£2500-3000ContactAndre Ling

Modern DesignModern DesignModern DesignModern DesignModern DesignSaturday 8 March 10am

Followers of theModern Design sale willhave noticed that overthe past few years thefurniture has taken on amuch more Danishflavour (no not bacon),I’m talking teak, whetherdining, lounge orbedroom pieces. This

by James Bassam

mirrors the populartrend at the moment forthat ‘MidCenturyModern’ look which theScandinavian countriesdo so well, in particularthe Danes.

Many people will haveheard the names ArneJacobsen, Hans Wegnerand Finn Juhl as thesepioneers of mid 20th

Century designcommand high pricesand you know you arebuying quality. But manylesser known names are

coming through withequally strong designsand build quality to rivalthe ‘big boys’.

The next ModernDesign sale on Saturday8 March continues withthe Danish theme, thepick of the group hasbeen sourced from alocal property, a muchloved dining suite. Thedining table and chairsare a marriage, thechairs were designed in1951 by Arne HovmandOlsen for the Danishfirm JL Moller, acompany founded by thewell known designerand cabinet maker NielsMoller. Our set is insolid teak with papercord seating but theywere also available atthe time in rosewoodand oak. The six chairsare generally known as‘Model 71’ and theycome with two carvers

‘model 55’ which haveunusual protrudingshort arm restscomplementing thesmooth organic styling.The extending table byCJ Rosengaarden isagain in solid teak andwas also available inrosewood, probablydesigned by JohnMortensen and laterretailed by HeltborgMobler. The final piecefrom this privateresidence, a solid teaksidecabinet, wasdesigned by KurtOstervig for KP Mobler.Ostervig actually startedhis career as a shipbuilding engineer whichled to his employmentat E. Knudsen furnituremanufacturing businessdesigning furniture forthe home, ship interiorsand hotels.

So go Danish this springand with this sale youcan furnish an entirehome, with a choice oflounge, dining, bedroomfurniture and lightingavailable.

£600

30/8/13

Haddiscoe

Annual Marsh Lettings Auctionat The Bell, St Olaves

Monday 24 March

Approx. 800 acres of grazing marshes to let by auction.

For more information please contact Edward Baskerville

01379 651 931 or Rachael Hipperson 01953 423 188.

Land & Property Auctionat The Diss Auction Rooms

Thursday 3 April

Transmission DateMonday 19 March 12:15pm,

BBC 1

£360

16/8/13

£520

5/4/13

Examples of Clarice Cliff

sold at Diss Auction Rooms

At the age of 13 Clarice started workingin the pottery industry as an apprenticegilder, adding gold lines on ware oftraditional design. Once this was

mastered she changed jobs to learnfreehand painting, at the same timestudying art and sculpture at theBurslead School of Art in theevenings.

In 1916 Clarice made the unusualdecision to move to the factory ofA.J . Wilkinson at Newport,Burslem, to improve her careeropportunities.

Clarice was ambitious andacquired skills in modelling

figurines, vases and gilding, keepingpattern books and hand painting

wares, outbuilding and enamelling.Her efforts were noticed by

management and Clarice was given asecond apprenticeship in 1924, aged 25,primarily as a ‘modeller’ but she also

worked with factory designers John Butlerand Fred Ridgway.Eventually, Clarice’s wide range of skillswas recognised and in 1927 she was givenher own studio at the adjoining Newportpottery.

Here Clarice was allowed to decoratesome of the old defective ‘Glost’ (white)ware in her own freehand pattern; for theseshe used brightly coloured on-glazeenamels. She covered the imperfections insimple patterns of triangles in a style shecalled ‘Bizarre’.

To the surprise of the company’s seniorsalesman Ewart Oakes when he filled hiscar with these pieces and took them tomajor stockist they were immediatelypopular, the rest is history.

A private collection of Clarice Cliff is tobe offered in our next ‘Special sale’ 4 April.

Sharon Bambridge

Clarice Cliff b.20 Jan 1899 - d. 20 Oct 1972

English ceramic artist, active from 1922 to 1963

The Gallery SalePaintings that attempt

to capture the sublime

By Debra Brown

We are delighted toreport that “The

Gallery Sale” at DissAuction Rooms on

Saturday 1 February

was every bit a success,a stroke of genius you

might say.

Launched at the

beginning of the yearthe new Gallery Sale is

the inspiration of

James Bassam, a seniorvaluer at the auction

rooms. A new way ofseeing art from a

different angle, a

change from the moretraditional Winter and

Summer Fine Arts sale

that had gone before.

The Gallery Sale had achanged format, a

complete new layout

and re-design to hostup to approximately

180 lots ranging fromselected works of 17th

to 21st Centuries

including fine oils,watercolours, artists’

proof prints as well

as sculpture and artvolumes.

This new layoutallowed visitors to

circulate around the

saleroom with ease.

The inaugural salewas also noteable for

the calibre of works,

arguably higher thanwe had seen before.

Visitors flocked tothe salesroom to see

some impressive

works from artistssuch as Thomas

Smythe (1825-1900),Samuel David

Colkett and Frank. H.

Partridge all from thetraditional Norwich

School of the 19th

Century tocontemporary artists

such as DavidHockney, Tessa

Newcombe and

Dame Laura Knight;oils watercolours,

pencil studies,acrylics, artists’

estimated at £300 -£400 made over £1000

and two charcoalstudies on paper of

circus clowns did

extremely well:estimated between

£450 - £675 it made£850.

£850

prints, sculptures (even

Pablo Picasso print ofabstract figures) and

many more.

Many works of art

attracted lots ofinterest from buyers

and made well overtheir estimates, works

such as pencil studies

by Dame Laura Knights

An oil painting by

Samuel David

Colkett depicting afigure on lane with

cottages behindestimated between

£800 - £1,200, made

£1,800.

One painting

headlining the salewas a watercolour by

one of The NorwichSchool’s most famous

artists; a watercolour

by John Sell Cotmanentitled “View of

Raven”.This work demanded

an estimate worthy

of between £9,000 to£12,000, which

looked very

achievable based onthe buzz around it at

viewing. Howeverbids were not

forthcoming and the

vendor has sincereturned it to his

wall for his continuedenjoyment.

A 19th Century onyxand brass torchere

surmounted by a

bronze figural electric

lamp as a nymph

holding branchessigned H. Allouard

made a dazzling£1,600, estimated

between £680 - £880.

The love of a localartist too, it was good

to see an outstanding

collection of works byStephen Walker, a

group of miniatures inoils depicting horses

and rural scenes.

However the star of

the show and stealingthe limelight was a

watercolour by Rose

Maynard Barton R.W.S(1856-1926) depicting

horse drawn London

cabs in a wet eveningstreet with Big Ben in

the distance, signed and

dated1899, making wellover its estimate at

£2,600.

The trend from buyers

was a move towardsoils than watercolour,

but more over it was

fantastic to see highquality art generally

making strong prices inDiss. So anyone out

there who has anything

extraordinary to sellfrom a Turner to a

Bridget Riley, pick upthe phone.

If you require anyfurther information

about our forthcomingGallery Sale please

contact the Auction

Rooms to speak toeither Edward Smith

MA or James Bassam.Meanwhile don’t forget

our Art with Antiques

sale Friday 7 March.

£2600

£1600

G A Z E T T E

Issue 37/spring ‘14

TW Gaze LLP, Diss Auction Rooms, Diss, Norfolk IP22 4LN01379 650 306 auctions@twgaze.co.uk www.twgaze.co.uk

When I began my career in 1985 it seemed sovereigns always sold at auction for £60 - 65 and half sovereigns for£32 – 38; the gold market was stable for an extended period and valuations were easily predictable using a verystatic formula.

In early 2014, whilst particular features such as date and condition impose marginal differences on values andgold prices fluctuate to reflect the more erratic financial climate, a sovereign sells at auction for a currentaverage of £220.

Meanwhile, I began my 30th year in the profession with a career first: I was instructed to value a gold bar. Untillast month my concept of bullion had been influenced by “heist movies” such as “Ocean’s 11" and “Lock, Stockand Two Smoking Barrels” or even coloured by clichéd cartoon images.

Upon my arrival in the high security location I was expecting to see a legendary foil-wrapped chocolate-chunk;instead, I was presented with a shape that resembled a sad-looking chocolate slab that has been compressed ona hot day and put in the fridge to “revive”! My initial reaction? I have to admit to being disappointingly underwhelmed.The “kilobar” (1000g) is the world’s most widely traded small gold bar. It transpires that most have a flat“international” shape such as the one I inspected, but traditional kilobars in the shape of a “brick” are stillavailable, notably in Europe. The gold purity for these is normally 99.5%, 99.9% or 99.99%.

However, having had my interest in the subject whetted I have been intrigued to learn subsequently thatstandard, innovative and unusual gold bars manufactured around the world can be grouped into a total of 55categories!

They vary in terms of shape and weight and their design often reflects the culture of the country manufacturingthe gold; for example “twin-coin” bars from Thailand, “Yin-yang” bars from Japan, “bone” bars from Brazil and“boat” bars that are made in Thailand, Hong Kong and China. The traditional boat shape has been used for silverand other Chinese coinage as far back as the Han dynasty (206BC – 220AD), but many shapes of gold bars arerelatively “modern” releases such as “model” bars. For example, in 1991 LG Metals (South Korea) issued a

traditional range of gold model bars in the form of pigs (a symbol of wealth), toads(good fortune) and turtles (longevity).

“Minted” bars (no, not the herbal after-dinner variety) including“commemorative” bars and “pendant” bars have also beenissued by various manufacturers over the years andMitsubishi (Japan) have experimented with multi-colouredprinted designs to decorate the bars’ surface and “rainbow”gold bars in which different carat gold colour tones are

combined in one.

I now begin to understand the allure of accruing one’s wealthin easily storable, transportable (and relatively modest-looking)

pocket-sized packages; and whilst I note that a 1kg bar of chocolatecontained in a distinctive purple wrapper is currently being marketed

at £9, the value of that one kilobar I was privileged to handle?£25,430!

by Elizabeth Talbot facebook.com/likeelizabethtalbot @talktalbot

Golden DaysGolden Days