Wheelie Fun

Alex, Arthur, Beatrice Powell clamber over a giant bronze Harley Davison Fatboy motorcycle. Estimated at £200,000-400,000 this 20ft by 10ft sculpture will be coming up for auction on 28th September at Summers Place Auctions.

Courtesy of The Daily Telegraph, 22 August 2022. Photograph by Russell Saoh

Summers Place Auctions to hold Jubilee Garden Auction

With the whole country getting excited about Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee,
Summers Place Auctions will be putting on a special, timed online auction to coincide with the celebrations and the start of the British summer season. The sale will inspire garden owners to add some key pieces for summer parties to come and to perhaps commemorate the Sovereign’s reign with some affordable, decorative pieces suitable for any garden. Perhaps an impressive pair of lion sculptures takes your fancy, or you could install a little fountain in your back garden. There will be lots of lovely garden sculptures to choose from as well as a garden bench fit for a Queen!


This online auction includes a selection of garden statuary from a couple of private collections goes live on 20th May and will run until 6th June –

Visit the auction

Late Gothic marble wellhead stars in our pick of seven auction highlights sold this week – ATG, 1 April, 2022

Roland Ward

ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a 15th century Istrian marble wellhead that sold for a six-figure sum in West Sussex.

1. Istrian marble wellhead – £110,000

Estimated at £25,000-40,000, this 15th century Istrian marble wellhead in the late Gothic style sold for £110,000 at Summers Place Auctions in West Sussex on March 29.

It shares much in common with a wellhead which still stands in the courtyard of the Ca’ d’Oro palazzo in Venice.

As that carving is known to have been commissioned by Marino Contarino and made by Bartolomeo Bon in Venice in 1427-28, the dozen similar surviving examples are often attributed to ’the Bon family workshops’. Most are carved with two or more allegorical figures emblematic of Fortitude, Justice, Prudence and Charity inspired by the 14th century capitals of the Palazzo Ducale.

By family repute this example (with later wrought iron overthrow and sandstone plinth) was previously in the grounds of Horton Hall, Northamptonshire, that was demolished in 1936. Once the seat of the Earls of Halifax, it is likely that the wellhead was among the many objects brought back from the Grand Tour by George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax in the mid 18th century when both the house and the garden were remodelled.

Hot to Trot – featured in the Sunday Telegraph 27th March 2022 courtesy of Simon Czapp/Solent News and Photo Agency

Angela Marshall dusts a statue of four horses rising out of the waves.

More than 7ft tall, it was created at Sherpperton Studios and even featured in a Spice Girls video, before moving to Caesar’s nightclub in London. it will be auctioned off for as much as £12,000

(Lot 274 30th March 2022 auction)

Any Old Lion – featured in The Times, Thursday 24th March 2022

The Times, Thursday 24th March 2022

Featuring Lot 118-127 30th March 2022 – Garden and Natural History auction

Art Deco Portland stone lion heads from 1920, saved from a building on Oxford Street demolished for Crossrail, are tipped to sell for £15,000

A rare set of four marble carved figures – featured in The Times courtesy of Aaron Chown PA

A rare set of four carved marble figures, which represent the four seasons and are from La Granja Vella de Marti Codolar in Barcelona are going on sale at Summers Place auctions in Billingshurst, West Sussex.

The statues were made in the late 17th and early 18th century

courtesy of AARON CHOWN/PA and The Times

(Lot 14 29th March Auction)

‘Remarkable’ Four Seasons marble statues

expected to fetch £180,000 at auction – courtesy of The Independent/PA Live (Aaron Chown)

Click to read the Independent article

Alles im grünen Bereich – With Spring comes the need to spend more time outdoors – from the Austrian publication – Geld & Borse by VON MARIE-THÉRÈSE HARTIG

from the Austrian publication – Geld & Borse by VON MARIE-THÉRÈSE HARTIG

featuring Lot 7 an important carved Istrian wellhead; lot 21 A Coalbrookdale bench and lot 274 An impressive bronzed fibreglass group of galloping horses

Read the full article

Cue for Naval Action – An historic full size Snooker table is mentioned in The Times by Patrick Kidd – 4 March 2022

Lot 149 29th March auction

A mahogany snooker table that was probably made for Prince Philip’s grandfather is being sold at auction this month. The table came from Admiralty Arch, which is being turned into a hotel, and was made in 1913 for the building off Whitehall, home of the First Sea Lord. At the time that was Prince Louis of Battenberg, son-in-law of Queen Victoria and uncle of Earl Mountbatten, who led the Navy in the 1950s. Summers Place estimates it could fetch £5000. One can image the flotilla of admirals who discussed naval strategy while sinking reds on it. As Marlowe almost said, was this the baize that launched a thousand ships?”