WOKING.- Ewbank’s Auctions are celebrating a significant uplift in sales for 2018, with a turnover topping £4.6m and a sell-through rate of 83.4% by lot.
The total was 12.6% on 2017, with turnover up for almost every month year on year.
The auction house’s top lot was the oil on canvas, (pictured above), by the celebrated Irish artist Paul Henry R.H.A (Irish, 1876-1958), titled A View on Achill Sound and dating to 1943-45.
With an estimate of £20,000-40,000, it sold for £78,740 including buyer’s premium on April 26.
A c.1928 signed Chiparus cold-painted bronze of Antinea claimed the next highest price of the year at £52,070 including premium on September 13, with an 18th-19th century coral bead necklace making £36,830 including premium on June 20.
“It’s been an exceptional year for us in Send,” said chairman Chris Ewbank, “but not just in terms of sales totals. We have focused on developing niche sales, such as our entertainment memorabilia, and we have also been privileged to handle a number of historically significant consignments.”
These have included family heirlooms from the estate of US President Grover Cleveland in November, the personal effects of William Taynton – the first person to appear on television – including ephemera and gifts directly linked to John Logie Baird, and the Sutton vase, an impressive piece of silver-gilt associated with Robert Sutton, one of the founders of the Stock Exchange.
“We have also witnessed some extraordinary pieces and prices on the entertainment front, most recently with the unique archive of early Pink Floyd posters, which sold for tens of thousands of pounds, but also with our offering of the 30th anniversary sale from Prop Masters, with its Darth Vader mask and Lara Croft jacket.
“The Goodies Trandem, which came up in our October sale, really caught the imagination of the public and media, while the exceptional collection of film posters put together by the late Derek East attracted a huge following at the beginning of August.”
The Ewbank’s team is already planning to capitalize on these successes early in 2019. Three auctions over two days on January 16 and 17 include antique and collectors’ pieces, decorative arts and Contemporary art and Modern British paintings, while February 7 brings Bond & Beyond, a themed sale focusing on everything 007, from toys and collectables to posters and more.
“We face 2019 with many of the same concerns as other business, from uncertainty over Brexit to the fall-out of the ivory ban, but we also move forward with confidence because of all of the advantages we are able to offer,” said Chris Ewbank.
“Whether it is the exceptional expertise of our specialists, as evidenced by the wide variety of high quality consignments we have been able to attract in 2018, our high profile online – we have sold as much as 75% of lots via the internet at some sales –or the new niches we have been carving in areas such as handling legacy consignments with particular historical significance, putting the client at the heart of our business, along with making things as easy and clear for bidders as possible, remains our focus and that will never change.”
