Silver sells well

While Bonhams relocated to state-of-the-art salerooms in Queen Street, Edinburgh, our auctions fl ourished in the prestigious venue of The Signet Library at Parliament Square. Superb items matched their striking setting with a Belle Epoque opal and diamond necklace selling for £10,560. In August we celebrated the launch of the new salerooms with a Scottish sale featuring examples of Jacobite drinking glasses. Commemorating a signifi cant chapter in Scottish history, the glasses proved extremely popular with bidders, one lot exceeding its estimate of £1,000 - £1,500 and selling for a remarkable £12,600.

Silver performed exceptionally well, ranging from rare 17th century thistle cups by George Walker, which sold for £34,800, to unusual items by contemporary craftsmen such as Malcolm Appleby. Later in the year we toasted a new department in Edinburgh specialising in whisky. Headed by Martin Green, who has over 20 years’, experience in the fi eld, the auctions got off to a fl ying start with the fi rst making £92,000. In November Bonhams hosted a single-owner sale The John Hamilton Collection which sold 100 per cent by lot and by value. The sale’s success lay in the range of items, comprising furniture, ceramic and glass, clocks, pictures and Asian art, all giving a glimpse into the life of a collector.

Our picture department generated great interest among collectors with a John Peploe, a vivid depiction of ‘House and Trees, Dumfriesshire’, selling for £62,400 and an Anne Redpath, entitled ‘White Peonies’ fetching £69,000. Alexander Carse’s genre painting ‘The Penny Wedding’ (pictured top right) became the most expensive item sold in The Scottish Sale, fetching £114,000. April is host to a variety of sales and we expect interest to be high in Asian Art, European Ceramics and Glass, Design from 1860 to the present day, and 19th and 20th Century Pictures and Prints.

A variety of items will include a a large twin handled Wang Hing goblet, estimate £1,500 – £2,000 and a gilt bronze and ivory fi gure of a Latin Dancer, estimated at £1,000 – £1,500. Our sale of Pictures and Prints comprises works by Alberto Morrocco, Robin Philipson, William MacTaggart, Joan Eardley, David McClure, Robert Gemmell Hutchison, William Crosbie etc, and a studio selection of Janetta Gillespie RSW.

IF YOU WANT ANY FURTHER INFORMATION ON AUCTIONS AT BONHAMS, PLEASE CONTACT THE EDINBURGH SALEROOM ON. TEL: 0131 225 2266. WWW.BONHAMS.COM OR EMAIL EDINBURGH@BONHAMS.COM