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AUCTION REPORT
Warren & Wignall
The Mill
Earnshaw Bridge
Leyland
Lancashire
Telephone: 01772 451430/453252
Email: enquiries@warrenandwignall.co.uk
Website: www.warrenandwignall.co.uk
Sale type: General
Sale date: Wednesday, 21st March 2007
Buyer’s premium: 15% inc. VAT
Credit-card charge: 1.9% of hammer price
I got to the saleroom in plenty of time for a good view. It’s probably three years since I was last at WW’s, and I remembered, correctly as it turned out, that this large saleroom is usually packed to the gunnels with lots. Nothing had changed; there were nearly 900 items to be disposed of.
I must admit that my heart sank, not because I knew that this was going to be a long haul but because this was the stuff of house clearance, garden-shed clearance and general-clearance clearance. Is it because it is so hard to dispose of rubbish these days, and hiring vans to take junk to the tip costs good money? Is the hope that somehow the bargain DFS sofa will actually make a couple of quid more than the van hire? That’s maybe a bit unkind: there were actually some OK sofas!
But there were boxes and boxes of books: guide books to Britain, books on the Royal Family, Readers’ Digest condensed novels etc., the stuff of many Christmases past. And old bicycles, and tools, and gardening implements. You get the picture.
The first 160 lots were a miscellany of the sort of stuff we all keep in our shed/roof space – dolls’ houses, kitchenware, skittles, ladders and, of course, the bits mentioned above. Most lots made a couple of quid, a cheese plant went for £5, but there was nothing to grip the imagination. The boxes of books averaged about £2.75.
One good thing about WW is that they have specific break times to allow for payment and collection; so, if you are after lot 900, you know there’s no point in being in the saleroom before about 3 p.m.
There was a fair amount of repro and modern furniture.
Yew corner cabinet £30
Pair of bowfront mahogany bedside cabinets £75
Bowfront mahogany chest of drawers £65
French-style marble-top side table £50
Large rustic dining table and 6 chairs £45
Very modern round glass and marble table and 4 leather chairs £120
Extending cabriole leg dining table and 8 chairs £120
Extending table and 6 Hepplewhite style chairs £130
Yew 2-door cabinet £10
Challen baby grand piano, in need of tuning and major TLC (but very furnishing) £90
Edwardian chaise longue (ditto) £140
Modern Knowle sofa (Laura Ashley?) £260
3-piece suite, attractive terracotta and floral fabric, good condition, £120
Pair of button-back leather chairs £50
Attractive Edwardian inlaid salon chair £75
Cream leather settee, armchair and pouffe £200
Victorian nursing chair, in need of re-upholstering £40
Yew pedestal kneehole desk £120
Green leather swivel armchair £155
Not bad prices, I think, and most of the above in fairly good condition.
Child’s green Lloyd Loom rocking chair £30
2 Edwardian bedroom chairs £2
Brass inlaid letter rack (Indian) £15
Modern pine extending table and 6 chairs £30
Pine (or maybe beech) round table and 4 chairs £20
Grey single mattress with metal frame £8
Ebonised piano duet stool £12
Nearly new P-shaped bath (the sort at one end of which you put a shower screen) £5
It seemed to me that anyone wanting to set up buy-to-let/student accommodation could have done quite well at this sale. There were few items of any real note, but there were some determined buyers after some of the sofas/suites in particular.
The last part of the sale began at 1.45 p.m. This was made up of boxes of books, some ceramics, glass and the odd bit of plated ware, among many other items. One lot was described gnomically as “a box of things”, though I am sorry to say I never found where it was!
2 Wade NatWest pigs £14 (God help us!)
Brass-inlaid writing slope in need of much TLC £50
Sylvac squirrel jug, truly ghastly £13
Box of china and pottery, including some blue-and-white Spode and rather pretty plain Victorian custard cups £17
Beswick cairn terrier £18
Wade whimsies £12 (the hideous brown blobby sort)
44 pieces of Royal Worcester, Evesham, £32
I could go on and on and on… Nothing really outstanding. Some good buys, but no lots that really caught the eye – that is, of course, always the luck of the draw at a general sale.
ABOUT WARREN AND WIGNALL
Easy to get to?
Fairly. Leave the M6 at Junction 28 on the B5248. The saleroom lies on the northern side of town, and I think that if you follow signs to the prison you’ll find your way to WW’s. If in doubt, phone and ask. The ladies in the office were very helpful. There is a fair amount of parking on site.
Viewing?
All sales are held on Wednesday. Viewing is on Tuesday, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and for one hour before the sales begin, at 10 a.m.
Catalogues?
A list of lots is available for general sales for £1. Catalogues for antique sales are available from the Friday prior to the sale, at a cost of £1.50. The former is useful for scribbling prices etc. The latter is complemented with some colour images on the website.
Refreshments?
Yes! There’s a man with a foodie van outside the salerooms. The bacon bap was more than welcome when I arrived for this sale.
Speed of sale?
Actually not bad, approximately 160 lots an hour. The proceedings should be done and dusted by about 3.30 p.m.
We say?
This wasn’t a particularly inspiring sale, and the auctioneers aren’t perhaps the sparkiest, but it’s efficiently run and was well attended, albeit with an ever-changing group of punters.
Madolyn Seabrook