Selections & Collections - Auctioneers' Choices

Auctioneer & Valuer Ben Rogers Jones

Lot 547 - WINIFRED NICHOLSON oil on canvas - ‘Agamemnon Sets Out For Troy’

"There are some really good non-Welsh art in the Selections auction and it is a privilege to offer two of the giants in Lowry and Hockney. Another of the big names of British Modern art is Winifred Nicholson (1893-1981). Winifred is perhaps lesser known than her husband Ben but her work is just as important and her recognition is growing vastly. Winifred exhibited with the foremost artists of the period including Henry Moore, Christopher Wood and the familiar names from The Welsh Sale, John Piper and David Jones. Lot 547 with its mythical theme ‘Agamemnon Sets Out for Troy’ is compositionally unusual for Nicholson but the vibrant colours are very typical and very lovely. I would love to own this painting as something to enjoy but also as a sound investment as Winifred’s stock rises further. I am excited to see how much it will make at the auction on April 1st. Another ‘belter’!"

Auctioneer & Valuer Charles Hampshire

Lot 510 - BREITLING TOP TIME 'THUNDERBALL' CHRONOGRAPH WRISTWATCH

"If it’s cool enough for James Bond, it’s cool enough for me! Suave and sophisticated, the Breitling ‘Top Time’ was famously worn by the late Sir Sean Connery in the Bond film ‘Thunderball’. The modified chronograph watch is given to Bond by Q and acts as a geiger counter. This example is in terrific condition boasting vintage yellow rectangular Breitling box with 'Certificat International' booklet signed and dated '13.12.71', with world service booklet. In the same ownership for over 50 years you will be hard pushed to find a finer example. I will channel my inner Bond come sale day and hope to enjoy a martini afterwards as I have high hopes this lot will hit the target."

Auctioneer & Valuer Richard Hughes

Lot 549 - SIR PETER MARKHAM SCOTT oil on canvas

"One of my favourites is Lot 549, oil on canvas, Wigeon ducks and Greylag geese by Sir Peter Markham Scott, estimated at £3,000 – 5,000. I like ducks, and this is a good painting, but the artist himself was quite remarkable. Son of the Antarctic explorer Captain Scott and the sculptor Kathleen Scott, he was only two when his father died during the ill-fated exploration to the South Pole. Peter was one the most versatile and gifted men of his generation, being an accomplished artist, naturalist, international sportsman (bronze Olympian), conservationist and man of action."

Auctioneer & Valuer Philip Keith

Lot 523 - FRANZ BERGMAN COLD PAINTED BRONZE FIGURE OF 'WHIRLING DERVISH I'

"Franz Xavier Bergman is synonymous with the production of ‘cold painted’ figures, a lost process of painting cast bronzes using successive layers of polychrome ‘dust paint’ without added firing to fuse the two. His workshop in Vienna specialised in erotic and exotic figures, particularly from ‘the east’ being people from Ottoman Turkey and North Africa. Here, we have a Dervish (a Sufi of the Mevlevi order) in traditional costume captured in the act of ecstatic physical meditation involving spinning in circles to achieve dharma. Whilst not strictly an Oriental object, the Ottoman empire is certainly one of my favourite historic passions."

Auctioneer & Valuer Stephen Roberts

Lot 501 - 19TH CENTURY GOLD DOVE BROOCH

"I do find bird fashioned jewellery a delight, we have had many a piece through our hands over the years, made in all metals with everything including diamonds set within.

This one in particular stands out for me with the use of turquoise against the gold, it looks absolutely striking and the quality workmanship of the jeweller is superb, I am sure this little bird brooch will fly out on sale day."