Wessex Auction Rooms - November & December
Many businesses start to wind down when they reach December, but as 2023 draws to a close, Wessex Auction Rooms move into one of our busiest periods of the year.December will see seven auction days at Wessex and by the time you are reading this we will have sold 1200 lots in our seventh two-day Toy Auction of the year and over 1100 lots in our specialist auctions of Jewellery, Watches, Silver & Coins and over 700 lots in our Antiques, Furniture & Collectable auction that features a fantastic section of wine & spirits just in time for the festive season. The team are certainly earning our Christmas dinner!
If you joined us for our Antiques, Collectables & Furniture auction of 25th November you would have seen a wonderful collection of Magic Lanterns and slides. While there is a growing trend for decorative arts and collectables from the 20th Century, the Magic Lantern is clear evidence that Antiques are always in vouge. Originating from the mid-17th Century the 'Lanterna Magica' was an early image projector which used pictures, photos and transparent plates from a wide range of subjects, initially for entertainment purposes and later on as an education tool. The Magic Lantern itself is a beautiful piece of apparatus that today can act as an eye-catching talking point in any home, however it is more often the slides themselves that can fetch the 'big money' when they go under the hammer at auction.
The collection was divided into around 100 lots with the most sought-after lot being a collection of around 75 Victorian mahogany framed slides featuring over 40 cranked rotary examples with kaleidoscope 'chromo' slides. The 75 slides sold for £2,880 including buyer’s premium and after spending a few moments looking through the slides it becomes quickly apparent why this lot received over 50 individual bids in the live auction - they really were beautiful. The total collection sold for over £14,500 including buyer’s premium.
The Magic Lanterns were by no means the only form of 'early entertainment' that featured in the auction. Lot 144 saw a Bell Fruit Manufacturing 'Cascade' wall arcade penny slot machine go under the Wessex gavel and in my opinion, there is nothing better than an old-fashioned penny slot machine if you want to turn some heads. This example had its original wooden case with glazed front logo and very importantly... it had its key!It really was ready to go. The main colour was a striking red which really 'popped' against its wooden case, a fine example that reached a selling price of £840 including buyers premium after a fierce battle between the various online bidding platforms, a telephone bidder, and the busy room.
I can imagine you are now thinking that surely an auction house in Wiltshire couldn't have another item related to early engineered forms of entertainment in the same auction.Well of course we can! Wessex have actually been very fortunate to handle many Automatons throughout the years and every time we get to catalogue, value, photograph and sell these majestic items we get a thrill from the designs, styles and using our imagination to picture them in all of their pomp back in their 18th & 19th Century golden age. An Automaton is simply an engineered self-operated robot, often involving a human, humans or animals, that would behave and respond in an mechanical way, and they are really good fun! In our November 25th auction we had an early to mid-20th Century example depicting knights fighting! It had a crank handle and was housed within a glazed oak case, and to show the importance of such a fine item it was decorated with a brass crest to top, brass mounts and twin brass carry handles. It was quite big, coming in at a height of 84cm and sold to a UK internet bidder for £1,320 including buyer’s premium, a really fantastic price for our vendor who had hoped to get around £100 for the item – which just goes to show what a fantastic shop window can be offered to sellers now that hundreds of online bidders join our in-room bidders for every auction.
Over the past 7 years our vinyl records and music memorabilia department, headed up by my business partner Martin Hughes has now grown into one of the premier specialist music auctions in the world.Due to the volume of consignments this year we have squeezed in an additional two day auction on December 14th & 15th to finish up our year of auctions.
It's been lovely to be able to report to you on some of our auction highlights and stories from this year and I have even received the odd email from readers telling me about similar items that they own to the ones I have written about and it is always great to 'see' who is reading, so thank you. Finally, I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy new year from all of us at Wessex Auction Rooms. In 2023 we have held 50 auctions; sold over 50,000 Lots and I see no signs of us slowing down!See you in 2024!
Wessex Auction Rooms are always consigning for forthcoming auctions and welcome entries, Monday-Friday 9am to 5pm at our auction rooms just off Junction 17 of the M4 (Chippenham) with no appointment necessary. Or on an appointment basis at our central Bath office, or at your home. Contact the team on 01249 720888 or email enquiries@wessexauctionrooms.co.uk