09/11/2024 General News
The third and last of Keys’ Fine Sales take place across three days at the end of this month, and once again features a varied and prestigious collection of ceramics, glass, oriental items, paintings, jewellery, silver, clocks and watches, furniture, decorative items, and rare wines and whiskies.
Lowestoft porcelain continues to attract much attention in the saleroom, and once again our Fine Sale has a very good selection of interesting and rare pieces. Included in these is a rare and unusual jug and cover which is finely painted in puce camaieu with a mandarin style pattern of a lady with a mandolin and another lady seated at a table with a vase of flowers. The jug has a pre-sale estimate of £1,500-£2,500.
Lowestoft was the only 18th century English porcelain factory to produce birth tablets, and as a result these are very collectable. One such in the sale is painted in underglaze blue, with the front inscribed ‘Thomas Page born December 1786’ and the reverse with a chinoiserie scene. Despite a rim chip to the front and a large chip to the reverse, we still expect this to make between £2,000 and £4,000.
A third rare piece of Lowestoft porcelain in the sale is a named tankard, inscribed for Edward and Mary Jex of Yarmouth, dating from around 1765, which has a pre-sale estimate of £3,500-£4,000. The Jex family were landowners in both Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, where John Jex is recorded as Mayor and Magistrate who, according to local history, entertained George II when the King on his way to Hanover, was forced ashore during a storm.
On the subject of maritime storms, one fascinating lot tells the story of a groundbreaking piece of maritime navigation and engineering, which arguably laid the foundation for the connected world we enjoy today. During the first attempt to lay and transatlantic cable in the 1860s, the cable was lost on the seabed, but in 1866, engineers aboard the SS Great Eastern successfully located and recovered the cable, reconnecting it so that telegrams could be sent.
The lot in our sale includes two pages of handwritten cables from on board the Great Eastern signed and certified by Willoughby Smith, chief electrician of the Telegraph Construction Company. Alongside these important documents is a sample of the undersea telegraph cable. This historic collection has a pre-sale estimate of £500-£700.
Lots with royal connections are always sought after, and there is a really interesting example going under the hammer in our Fine Sale. A gift to her lady-in-waiting The Right Hon Margaret Grant, the diamond portrait locket features a portrait of Queen Alexandra wearing the Rundell Tiara and diamond collier de chien. Margaret Grant was the wife of Rev A.R.Grant, who was later appointed rector at Sandringham and was chaplain to four monarchs, including the late Queen Elizabeth. The locket is expected to sell for between £2,000 and £3,000.
The third day of the Fine Sale is given over to fine art, and there is much local interest, including a work by Norfolk’s own Kieron Williamson (once described as the county’s mini-Monet, and now a successful artist in his 20s). the stunning oil painting, entitled ‘Choppy Waters, Boscastle’ was painted when he was just 11, and has a pre-sale estimate of £2,000-£2,500.
Keys’ Autumn Fine Sale takes place on Wednesday 27th, Thursday 28th and Friday 29th November. Full details, including an online catalogue, are available at www.keysauctions.co.uk.