Bishop & Miller held its first of four Jewellery & Watch auctions of 2020. This auction saw over 640 lots being auctioned in their saleroom in Stowmarket. As part of this exquisite auction, there was a fine collection of items from a horologists workshop included in the auction.
There was some really outstanding pieces of jewellery included in the sale, one of which was a fancy yellow diamond solitaire ring which was measured at 3.31 carats and with a clarity of SI1 which sold for £15,500 (including buyers premium). Another beautiful item that was successful on the day of the auction was a pair of 14 carat gold sapphire cufflinks. These outstanding cufflinks from the estate of the late Alan Searle, private secretary to William Somerset-Maugham, saw an auction price of £1,400 (including buyers premium) achieved.
Not only was the fine jewellery selling incredibly well at the auction, we are continually seeing that the wristwatch market continues to go from strength to strength. The auction had a number of outstanding watches, such as the Patek Philippe Gentleman’s wristwatch c1930 which achieved an auction price of £8,600 (including buyers premium) and a ladies Omega wristwatch which achieved an auction price of £660 (including buyers premium). Watches continue to sell incredibly well in the specialist auctions and it is a market that seems to keep on building each year.
As part of this specialist auction, we had a number of lots from a horologists workshop. The items that formed part of this collection included watchmakers tools and accessories. There were a number of outstanding lots as part of this collection and interest was received from across the UK, plus there was a a number of interested bidders online. All these fine examples of horologists equipment achieve an auction price of over £20,000 (including buyers premium).
Managing Director Oliver Miller said, “we are extremely proud of the quality of jewellery and watches we get in for these auctions, so much so that we have introduced an extra jewellery and watches auction in our already busy auction calendar this year. We are continuing to see some fine pieces of jewellery such as the fancy yellow diamond and Patek Philippe Gent’s wristwatch come into our valuation days.