Auction round-up: September’s prized lots

Whether you’re

Whether you’re seeking vintage jewellery or
contemporary furniture, look no further than the UK’s regional
specialist auction houses

In Depth

Chiswick Auctions also has some sparklers at
its Jewellery auction on 12 September, with a rare Burmese ruby and
diamond cluster ring (£8,000-12,000) featuring alongside pieces
from the likes of Bulgari, Van Cleef & Arpels and Cartier. On
the same day, it has a Watches auction, which will include a rare
1953 Blancpain Fifty Fathoms divers watch (£10,000-15,000). It’s a
busy month for the west London auction house, with the opening of
its new showroom in South Kensington on 26 September, coinciding
with a sale of Designer Handbags & Fashion, where notable lots
include an Hermes Rouge Swift Birkin 35 (£5,000-8,000).

Staying with fashion, and, ahead of its biannual Passion for
Fashion auction in November, Kerry Taylor
Auctions in Bermondsey is holding an Antique and Vintage
Fashion and Textiles sale on 25 September. Bid for pre-loved
designer bargains such as a pair of 1970s Terry de Havilland
metallic snakeskin platform shoes (£250-350), an Alexander McQueen
pale pink cashmere coat (£300-500) and, in the same hue, a Chanel
cotton tweed suit (£300-500).

A little further south, Roseberys in West
Norwood has a Decades of Design sale on 5 December, where you’ll
find fine and rare pieces such as a signed Emile Gallé ‘Magnolia’
three-branch chandelier from circa 1910 (£15,000-£25,000), a 1950s
French oak desk by Maurice Flachet (£1,500-2,500) and, from the
1960s, a set of four ‘Les Arcs’ chairs by Charlotte Perriand
(£800-1,200).

Musical instrument enthusiasts, meanwhile, should head to
Bath-based Gardiner
Houlgate on 14 September for its Guitars auction, where
interesting lots include a late 1950s Wande electric guitar
(£5,000-10,000), which is said to be the first guitar Jimi Hendrix
played on UK soil, and is sold with a handwritten letter of
provenance from Zoot Money. Also up for grabs is a decorative
guitar from celebrated Parisian luthier Jean-Baptiste Voboam
(£25,000-30,000) dating back to 1684.

But delving even deeper into the past is Salisbury saleroom
Woolley & Wallis, which has a Roman marble
sarcophagus from the second-third century (£10,000-15,000) in its
sale of Tribal Art & Antiquities on 20 September. Other
interesting pieces include a striking Melanesian necklace made from
split sperm whale teeth (£6,500-7,500) and a Nigerian Benin leopard
in bronze (£7,500-8,500), which was exhibited at the acclaimed 2007
Breaking the Chains exhibition at the British Empire and
Commonwealth Museum, Bristol.