Smiths Antiques & Collectables sale on November 7-8 performed extremely well, making it a fantastic end to another highly successful year. Smiths Auctions have slightly changed their format in recent years concentrating on better quality items offered in two day sales held every six weeks. The November sale included over thirteen hundred lots with an extensive selection of antique silver and jewellery – just perfect for the upcoming Christmas season. The sale made just over one hundred thousand in total, with strong results seen throughout all the sections.

The highlight of the sale was provided by an 18th century Italian commode (a chest of drawers to us) which sold for £8,400. Coming from a large Herefordshire country house the commode had been brought back by the family from their Grand Tour of Italy over two hundred years ago. Unfortunately it was now in very poor condition and one leg and part of the lower drawer front were detached – but thankfully still present. As soon as the catalogue went online, staff could see it had a attracted a number of Italian online buyers and they knew then that things were going to get exciting. On the day it took the auctioneer almost eight minutes to sell, with competition coming from a telephone bidder in New York and several Italian bidders online. In the end an impatient Italian on a second telephone line was the successful buyer, and the commode will soon be making its way back home.

Other highlights of the day included an 18th century viola which sold for £2,600, despite needing extensive repairs, and £1,700 paid by an online bidder from China for a pair of Qing Dynasty Chinese powder blue vases – in surprisingly good condition.

Predictably the silver and jewellery sections sold strongly with hundreds of eager bidders online, as well as several private and trade buyers in the room. The auctioneers were also pre-loaded with a sale sheet full of commission bids – which are bids left for the auctioneer to execute on the buyer’s behalf. This service is free of charge in contrast with bidding on the internet which attracts a small charge from the online bidding platforms. This section of the sale typically provides the largest number of four figure results – this time featuring a beautiful sapphire and diamond bar brooch which reached £1,750, a 14 carat gold collar necklace which made £1,400 and a 17th century silver dish which sold for £1,250. A pair of Victorian turquoise and diamond pendant earrings sold for £1,100 to a Hatton Garden jewellery against a £400/£600 estimate. This perfectly illustrates how well antique jewellery is selling in the current market.

Smiths are now looking forward to their extremely popular New Year sale on January 2-3. Contrary to many people’s pre-conceptions, this sale is consistently one of the most successful of the year and can provide spectacular results for vendors. In recent years Smiths have swapped their early December sale for an early January sale to make the most of this fact. The catalogue goes online just before Christmas giving maximum exposure over the whole holiday period, just when many people begin to get bored and perhaps even have Christmas gift money to spend. This is also a time of year when people focus on their interiors and furnishings and can look around for decorative or useful items to fulfil their plans.

However, so as not to miss the festive atmosphere of Christmas Smiths are delighted to invite everyone to their Pre-Christmas Viewing on the 18th of December from 2pm to 6pm. This gives the whole Auction Team a welcome chance to have a relaxed chat with customers and wish them all a very Happy Christmas, whilst potential buyers can get an early viewing of the sale.

Good quality entries of Antiques & Collectables are invited for this sale by appointment from November 18-28. In addition to a range of ceramics, glass, silver, gold, jewellery, furniture pictures and collectables, the sale features special sections for coins and postcards. The coin section is now almost full and the deadline for coins will be November 22. Please telephone 01531 821776 for an appointment or visit www.smithsnewentauctions.co.uk for further information.