A Robert Jones and Son Patent corkscrew, which sold for £11,000
A rare corkscrew has been sold at auction in the Cotswolds for a head-spinning £11,000.
Collectors went round the twist when the Robert Jones and Son Patent corkscrew – in brass with a rosewood handle, bearing a Victorian kite mark, and one of only 10 ever made – went under the hammer at Moore Allen & Innocent auctioneers in Cirencester on Friday (December10).
Two bidders in the room sent the sale price spiraling past its £300 to £500 estimate to £8,000, and collectors on the telephone lines pushed the finally tally to £11,000 when the hammer fell.
The antique generated considerable interest from helixophiles – the official name for corkscrew collectors – after it was listed for sale in the company’s online auction catalogue.
A Regency daybed in the Egypto-Classical manner
Although it was the most surprising hammer price achieved at the final Selected Antiques Sale of 2010, it was not the highest price achieved.
That honour went to a Regency wooden daybed in the Eygpto-Classical manner, which romped past its £8,000 to £12,000 to achieve a £23,000 hammer price.
A jug and two beakers by Doulton Lambeth, decorated with pictures of lions by the renowned artist Hannah Barlow
Other big guns at the sale included a 1919 model of a First World War tank, measuring 32cm long and cast in 83.5 ounces of silver, which made £6,000 against a £2,000 to £3,000 estimate, an exhibition quality Victorian walnut cheval mirror, which was once featured on the Antiques Roadshow, which sold for £2,700, and a jug and two beakers by Doulton Lambeth, decorated with pictures of lions by the renowned artist Hannah Barlow, which sold for £1,800.
Meanwhile, an early 20th century rhinoceros horn knob kerry – an African fighting club – made £6,200 while similar knob kerries with wooden handles achieved around £100 to £150.
And proving the maxim that there’s cash in the attic, a collection of toys from the 1930s to 1960s made good prices, notably a boxed example of the ever-popular circa 1965 Corgi 261 Special Agent 007 James Bond Aston Martin DB5, which sold for £150 against a £50 to £80 estimate, and a boxed Corgi Avengers gift set (circa 1966) containing John Steed and his vintage Bentley, and Emma Peel’s Lotus Elan S2, which made £145 against an estimate of £80 to £120.
For more about buying and selling at auction log on to www.mooreallen.co.uk