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THE AUCTION REPORT
Southgate Auction Rooms
55 High Street
Southgate
London N14 6LD
Telephone: 0208 886 7888
Website: www.southgateauctionrooms.com
Sale date: Monday 3rd March 2008
Sale type: Weekly general sale
Buyer's premium: 15% + VAT
Minimum charge: £4 + VAT on total hammer price
Auctions every Monday at 4 p.m. Viewing Saturday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on auction day. There is a refundable deposit of £30 for a bidding paddle.
Described as “London’s Finest Suburban Auction House” (by the auctioneers themselves, it should be noted), the Southgate has shown itself to be a fun place to explore on past visits.
The normal suburban boxed lots and household goods are supplemented by better pieces from local properties, including some juicy and varied finds from houses in Totteridge Lane (the local millionaires’ row). They sometimes get bankrupt stock from smart clothing outlets as well; so an average sale may include fine art, quality C19th furniture and jewellery, designer jackets, postcards and the usual array of general sale items.
This wasn’t just an average sale, though; it was a very average sale and quality was thin on the ground. I heard a porter remark that the previous two weeks had been very busy and that they had sold many good lots; they weren’t in evidence today. That’s not to say that there was nothing of interest – it all depends on what you are looking for…
Boys of all ages always like their toys; so I wasn’t surprised by the interest shown in the Mamod boxed steam car. In mint condition, it was estimated at £40–£80 but sold for £120. That seemed rather high to me (the final price would have been a little over £140 with buyer’s premium and VAT) as I have seen them go for around £60 on eBay, but as with anything that calls itself a collectible or an antique, condition is paramount and you will always pay a premium for items in perfect condition, because perfection is rare.
I liked the European ivory ‘scrimshaw-type’ panel, engraved with a multitude of putti cavorting in a sylvan landscape. It had considerable age and was estimated at £600–£800, eventually selling for almost double the top estimate at £1,500: doubtless a Totteridge find.
A couple of shoals of Murano glass fish struggled to get themselves caught by the buyers but eventually sold for £10 for a lot of six, and £15 for a lot seven. That equates to about £2 per fish: cheaper than a decent-size haddock, but impervious to vinegar.
It was easier for the auctioneer to find a home for the set of six (one broken) large classical ormolu double-bracket wall lamps. Estimated at £200–£400, they went away for £280: a good decorator’s lot.
Tom Lehrer once suggested that life is like a sewer: what you get out of it depends very much on what you put into it. Boxed lots are a bit like that. What you get out of one very often equates to the amount of time you are willing to spend looking through the box (assuming your cherished find doesn’t ‘move’ between the view and the sale). So it was that a boxed lot of silver plate, estimated at £45–£90, sold for £170. I had to assume that someone had seen something in there the rest of us had missed, given that standard silver plate usually struggles to meet lower-end estimates. If a couple of the items had been solid silver rather than plate, it would have made all the difference and, like watercolours being mistaken for prints, it can be that mistakes are made in the buyer’s favour.
An elegant Victorian double wardrobe with six drawers under was good value at £220 (estimate £200–£300).
My pick of the furniture was a Georgian mahogany chest on chest. It required some attention (and had possibly had its locks replaced at some point) and was estimated at £700–£1,000 but sold for £1,100 on the day. That would leave the buyer with a small profit if he were intent on selling it on.
A small Doulton flambé vase of oriental shape (estimated at £25–£50) sold for £40. I have seen similar examples sell for between £100 and £200 at quality antiques fairs, so not a bad buy.
One of the quirkiest moments came when a set of three saucepans and a jam pan came under the hammer. The auctioneer announced that there was good news and bad news: the three saucepans had been withdrawn from sale… but the jam pan remained! That, now lonely, jam pan fetched a mighty £10: a good sum, but hardly compensation for the loss of its chums.
I don’t think that I have ever come across so dismal a description as that which accompanied lot 66: Lladro clown boy with puppy (£15–£30). Pause for a moment to drink in that brief phrase. Reflect that while ‘boy’ and ‘with’ are blameless, the other three words are poisonous enough when they appear singly in a line of description in an auction catalogue; but when they join forces and act in concert… wow. Forget lasers in space or huge thermonuclear devices: James Bond’s enemies could easily conquer the world with something as evil as a Lladro group of a clown boy with puppy… and it would only cost them £10, as it did here. Some lots just cry out for a little TLC courtesy of a claw hammer, and this was one of them.
I have been to some sales where the deadly pace has made me long for a lie-down. Luckily, since they were selling at about 160 lots an hour, I didn’t need a bed at Southgate; although, if I had, I would have had a decent range to choose from. A bog-standard Silent Night double divan sold for £160 against an estimate of £150–£200. Much better was the Hypnos King Size divan bed that sold on the reserve at £325 (estimated at £325–£500). This was a good bed by a good maker and it would have been around £800–£1,000 if bought new. Those who prefer a period snooze would have liked the Edwardian bed frame with mother-of-pearl inlay that sold for £130 (estimate £80–£120) to a commission bidder.
Twenty-eight lots were left unsold at the end of the sale and on this Monday the attendance was less than usual. Still, given the miserable weather, it was surprising that anybody turned out to this wet and windy corner of north London at all.
Some additional prices:
Victorian marble-top washstand (£100–£150) £80
Mahogany chiffonier (£100–£200) £85
William IV armchair (not William VI as claimed in the catalogue!) (£100–£200) £85
Nicoletti Oxblood 3-seat sofa plus 3 recliner armchairs (£550–£700) £550
Pair cream Nicoletti armchairs (£100–£200) £85
Bristol blue Bohemian casket (£40–£80) £35
Oak captain’s chair (£40–£80) £50
Goebel blue marlin (£25–£50) £15
Old Charm oak sideboard (£30–£60) £25
Old Charm oak key cabinet (£100–£200)
New gents’ Omega wristwatch (£1,050–£1,500) £900
Charles Horner enamelled silver pendant (£20–£40) £15
Brown Malano leather sofa (£20–£40) £110
Modern Samurai sword (£20–£40) £10
About Southgate Auctions
Easy to find?
Yes. Southgate Auctions is ten minutes from Southgate tube station (Piccadilly Line) and within easy reach of the North Circular. The rooms themselves are easy to locate on the High Street.
Parking
There is a small car park to the front of the auction rooms and a free public car park a short walk away on Waterfall Road. There is some free parking in the immediate area as well, but check signage carefully as it is easy to make a mistake and come back to a parking ticket.
Refreshments
A small, somewhat rundown, café is available on site. The food is fine, but were Health and Safety ever to pay a visit they would probably condemn the toilet facilities, which leave something to be desired. To compensate for this minor problem, there is a bistro next door and a pub directly over the road.
Catalogue
Catalogues are basic, with the lots very sketchily described. They are fine for helping you know where you are in the sale, but not much use beyond that. Estimates are given and seem to be an honest attempt to guide buyers, as they are reasonably accurate.
Special terms and conditions
They take cash and cards but cheques are not accepted as a payment method. You have to pay a £30 refundable deposit for a bidding paddle.
Speed of sale
Around 160 lots an hour.
Charges
The buyer’s premium is 15% plus VAT, which seems to be the standard for most auction houses these days, but Southgate have a cheeky variation, in that the minimum buyer’s premium payable by the buyer, per lot, is £4 plus VAT. This equates to about £4.70, meaning that any lot selling below a hammer price of £25 is earning the saleroom considerably more than 15% in premium.
Vendors pay a healthy 20% plus VAT of the hammer price, plus £3 plus VAT per item as a lotting-up fee.
We say?
Not a great sale today but usually worth a look, depending on what Totteridge provides!
Gloria Trubshaw