“HE WHO gives away shall have real gain,” wise Buddha said.
And that was certainly the case for the vendor of a bronze statue, which was sold at a Cotswolds auction last week.
Despite signs of dents, wear, damage and repair – at one point the holy man’s head had fallen off, and been reattached with lead – the late 17th or early 18th century, 22cm tall Sino-Tibetan figure of a seated Buddha was expected to achieve between £200 to £300 on the basis of its age.
But at an auction at Moore Allen & Innocent in Cirencester on Friday, May 6, enlightened bidders pushed the hammer price to £1,300 – around five times the estimate, and the highest single lot price of the day.
Speaking of enlightened, a large collection of brass and tin lamps - including hand lamps, railway lamps, car lamps, and bikes lights – collectively made £1,635 over five lots.
Returning to the Far East, it proved to be a good sale for Oriental antiquities: the second highest lot price of the day was achieved by a box of jade carvings.
Auctioneers had anticipated bids of between £50 and £80 for the small collection of sundry items, which included a carved jade panel depicting a crane in a landscape, a jade lidded box, and a leaded dish with Japanese figures and central compass.
Again, there was damage and signs of repair to the ornaments, but that did not stop bidders pushing the hammer price to £1,150 – around 18 times the estimate.
And staying with ornaments, a collection of three 19th century Meissen porcelain figure groups of ladies seated at tables far exceeded its £250 to £350 estimate, to finish at £1,100, while a collection of miniature Continental porcelain figurines including an equestrian figure with gentleman in Persian style dress, a figure of a gentleman in black tri-corn hat and black tailcoat, a gentleman in 18th century dress wearing tri-corn hat and holding a muff, a lady in 18th century dress wearing laced bodice and iron red cap, and various other figures made £820 against an estimate of £50 to £80.
There was another surprise in the furniture section, where a vintage radio with a striking octagram star-shaped aerial made £680 against an estimate of £50 to £80.
Radio buffs set the hammer price of the circa 1925 Burndept Ethodyne Superheterodyne radio soaring.
And in an extensive fabrics section, the stand-out lot was an early 19th century cream gentleman’s waistcoat, hand embroidered with green, blue and brown flowers. Exceeding it’s £250 to £350 estimate, the waistcoat sold for £400.
With so many estimates being exceeded, it was no surprise that by the end of the day just under £60,000 of antiques had been bought and sold.
The next Moore Allen & Innocent auction will take place on Friday, May 20.
For a full auction catalogue, log on to mooreallen.co.uk
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