Our Top 10

Michael's personal lot highlights from the decades

A Victorian Gothic Revival walnut card table by the Arts and Crafts designer William Burgess provided great intrigue and excitement in the March 1999 auction at Chudleigh. It was bought by a leading UK dealer in the room and is now on display in an American museum. Sold for £20,500.

A telephone bidder from Surrey bought the Art Deco diamond set platinum bracelet as a Christmas present for his lucky wife in the November 2023 auction at Chudleigh! Went for £20,500.

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A London internet bidder secured the 5.5 carat old cut diamond solitaire on offer in the January 2024 auction against telephone bidding from the Antwerp trade. Selling for £21,500

A leading UK art dealer sent his representative to Devon to buy the postcard-sized oil on panel by L.S. Lowry included in the January 1999 auction. The vendor, a retired doctor on Dartmoor, had been disappointed when selling another Lowry work in one of the main London rooms but was delighted with this result! Going for £23,000

A collector from Cambridge bought a stoneware bowl by Lucy Rie in the September 2017 auction at Chudleigh. Sold for £23,000

Four telephone bidders competed for this 4" x 6" ink sketch of Rat, Mole & Toad by Ernest Shepard in the May 2012 auction at Chudleigh. A London bidder was forced to pay a triple estimate price on behalf of a Canadian client. Selling for £31,000

Local money was on hand to purchase the 7.57 carat rectangular diamond solitaire offered at Chudleigh in December 2009. The buyers were a couple from Paignton. Went for £40,500

Two of the UK's leading art dealers were present in the room when this small oil on canvas by the Victorian artist Henry Herbert LaThangue was offered at Chudleigh in March 2000. One of them was the eventual buyer but this was achieved in the face of serious interest from the Westcountry. It came from a local farming family who had no idea of its potential value despite some damage. Going for £41,000

This wall cabinet made from oak salvaged from Nelson's flagship HMS Foudroyant, sailed above its estimate at Chudleigh in September 2022. Its local vendor had purchased it at auction in Exeter for £16,000 less than 10 years previously but had never found the room to hang it! It is now on display in a large London pub. Sold for £41,000

This small watercolour by Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-1828), measured just 5" x 9" and shows Rouen from Bon Secours. It came to sale from a one parent family in North Devon, needing at least £1,000 to paint the exterior of their home! Selling for £62,000

By coincidence, a small group of paintings by this artist were offered at a similar time by one of the main London rooms. None matched this price.