Posted on: 31 March 2022
Time Flies: March 2022
Trevanion Auctioneers rang in the spring season with a successful March Fine Art & Antiques Auction. Showcasing over 800 lots, this month’s catalogue featured a wide array of ceramics, furniture, jewellery and antiquities, drawing the attention of bidders both nationally and internationally. “The pandemic really changed the way we do business” says Associate Director Ashley Jones. “Even as we have welcomed bidders back into the building, the presence of the online bidder is ever present in the saleroom. In the last two years, we have welcomed huge numbers of first-time bidders from all over the globe. Online bidding platforms have made the world of antiques much more accessible for novice bidders, and as a result a lot of people are discovering the magic of auction for the first time – it has been a joy to see!”
The top hammer price of the day came from a rare Grosse Langematik Gangreserve wristwatch from celebrated watch maker A. Lange & Söhne, which sold for £12,000 + Buyer’s Premium to an American bidder. “Avid watch collectors are sure to be aware of the names A.Lange & Söhne and Wempe – two brands which have long been associated with horological excellence,” says valuer Helena Waudby. A. Lange & Söhne is synonymous with mechanical innovation and commitment to aesthetics, intricacy and complexity in watchmaking. Founded in 1845 in Germany, A.Lange & Söhne quickly became a highly regarded watch manufacturer, with notable early patrons including German Emperor Wilhelm II and Alexander II of Russia. Wempe was founded in 1905 in Hamburg, developing high precision nautical timekeeping instruments, and today are renowned the world over as a fine jewellery and watch retailer. This timepiece is a one of the 100-piece limited edition series issued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Wempe. A piece like this is sure to be the jewel in any watch enthusiasts collection!”
Trevanion Auctioneers have more than one reason to celebrate this month, as March 15th marked one year since they re-opened their doors following their lockdown refurbishment.
“I cannot believe that the team and I have been in our new building for a whole year already!” says Auctioneer & Managing Partner Christina Trevanion. “After the blur that has been the last twelve months, it is easy to lose sight of how far we have come and what we have achieved. We began our renovation project at The Joyce Building in December 2020, hoping to transform our slightly tired, but beautiful building from a sleeping beauty into a light, bright, more useable gallery space. As the business has grown over the last seven years, so have our needs, and changes needed to be made – we added an extension to the rear of the building for storage, a state-of-the-art cataloging area including a gemmology laboratory, and a new customer car park. I do however take my job as custodian of the Joyce Building very seriously, and when we first started discussing refurbishment, it was important to me that the building’s original features, its quirks and its history, remained at the very heart of my business, as they have been since we were established in 2014. We re-opened our doors last Spring under our new name of “Trevanion Auctioneers & Valuers” to the delight of our patrons, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
“Little did we know quite what a record-breaking year we would be in for! In the last year have welcomed just over 10,000 online bidders, from Shawbury to Sri Lanka, from Montgommery to Malaysia. We are truly at the heart of a global marketplace and have secured exceptional results for our clients as a consequence. The three highest grossing auctions in our history have been held in the last year; we kicked off the spring season with the spectacular collection of Ruyton Hall, Shropshire, where a Chinoiserie cabinet sold for £14,000 and a collection of exquisite fruit watercolours sold for £15,000, swiftly followed by painting by the great Peter Monamy which sold for £12,000. In our June auction we sold the 17th century ‘Patches’ painting for a phenomenal £220,000, an experience which we will cherish for the rest of our lives – it was an incredible honour to discover, research, and achieve such a wonderful result for a truly historic work of art. And in January this year we sold the Alison Barker estate, a collection of art and antiquities from a collector in Sussex, highlights of which included a Roman Marble bust which sold for £27,000.
“As I reflect on our first year of this new chapter in our history, I have so many reasons to feel exceptionally lucky – however, I don’t so much believe in luck as I do in my team, who have worked so incredibly hard over the past twelve months, going above and beyond for our clients. The last year has presented us with many challenges, all of which we have met head on and surpassed. As the auction market and the world at large continue to change around us, sometimes at dizzying speed, I’m in no doubt that the challenges will keep on coming, but I’m equally certain that we will rise to them, and continue to offer outstanding service to our buyers and sellers as a great Shropshire success story.”
Our next auction will be held on Wednesday 27th April. View the full auction calendar for 2022 here.
