The Top 10
Michael J Bowman's Top 10 Lots Sold.
Below our top 10 of lots sold. So many lots, so many years, but these are the highlights.
If you would like a free consultation (by appointment only) get in touch. They are held on the first, third & forth Monday afternoon of each month at Chudleigh Town Hall, & on the second Monday afternoon of each month at the Passage House Hotel, Kingsteignton.
A verbal/valuation of your item/s will be given. No obligation to put into auction! Maybe you have an item that would make our top 10.
SOLD FOR £20,500 This Victorian Gothic Revival walnut card table by the Arts & Crafts designer William Burgess was bought by a leading UK dealer in the March 1999 auction at Chudleigh. It is now on display in an American museum.
SOLD FOR £20,500 This Art Deco diamond set platinum bracelet was bought by a telephone bidder from Surrey in the November 2023 auction at Chudleigh. It was to be a Christmas present for his lucky wife!
SOLD FOR £21,500 This 5.5 carat old cut diamond solitaire was bought by a London internet bidder against telephone bidding from the Antwerp trade in the January 2024 auction at Chudleigh.
SOLD FOR £23,000 This very small oil on panel by L. S. Lowry was bought by a leading UK dealer at Chudleigh in January 1999. The vendor, a retired doctor on Dartmoor, had been disappointed after selling another work by Lowry in one of the main London rooms but was delighted with this result!
SOLD FOR £23,000 This stoneware bowl by Lucy Rie was bought by a collector from Cambridge at Chudleigh in September 2017.
SOLD FOR £31,000 Four telephone bidders competed for this small ink sketch from 'Wind in the Willows', by Ernest Shepard, measuring just 4" x 6". A London bidder was forced to pay a triple estimate price on behalf of a Canadian client in May 2012 at Chudleigh.
SOLD FOR £40,500 Local money secured this 7.57 carat rectangular cut diamond solitaire when offered at Chudleigh in December 2009. The buyers were a couple from Paignton.
SOLD FOR £41,000 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.
SOLD 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 £62,000 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!