Surprise Star Performer in Chilcotts latest sale

A clock in bits was the surprise performer at the recent Chilcotts Auctioneers Fine Arts, Antiques and Collectors Items sale in Honiton.

The clock, more correctly known as a chronometer, was made by important clock makers ‘Kelvin, White and Hutton’. It came from a Mid-Devon family, and was a treasured family heirloom - until they decided to restore it.

The chronometer was taken to a clock restorer, who dismantled it but was unable to put it back together again. He returned the piece to them in bits, together with a note saying he could not reassemble it - and that he was retiring.

Auctioneer, Duncan Chilcott said: “We knew this was a good piece, but the movement had been taken out and we weren’t able to guarantee that all the parts of the clock were there.”

“Even so, the clock sold for an impressive £3,000.”

Other items of interest were a Victorian miniature safe from a house near Tavistock, which attracted fierce bidding. Interested bids came from Cornwall, Devon and Essex, with the winning bid of £2,600 from London.

A set of medallions associated with the safe found a local buyer bidding against an internet bidder from York. The north won, with the York bidder paying £1650.

Consigned by a Dorset vendor, a painting by celebrated British artist Frank H Mason, ‘Stormy Seas and Lifeboat on the Quay’ was another success story, selling for £3,000 to a buyer in County Durham after attracting bids from Leeds, Middlesbrough, Lancing, Whitby and Scarborough, where the artist was a founding member of the Staithes School of painters.

The sale was notable for a high level of overseas interest; buyers and bidders were from Australia, USA, Hong Kong, Austria, Ireland, Spain, China, Italy, Hungary, Turkey, France, Denmark, South Korea, Canada, India, Slovenia, Oman, Israel, and Germany. Bidders from the States were particularly strong due to the favourable exchange rate. Two samplers were bought by an American for £500 and £550; a huge improvement on recent prices for samplers.

For information about the next sale on August 12 visit the website.