ANTIQUE clocks discovered in the same house clearance fetched a striking £10,500 when they were sold at a Sidmouth auction house.
Bidders didn’t waste any time in battling it out for the items - with one going for £6,100 alone at Potburys.
The William and Mary eight-day striking long-case clock garnered the highest amount of money out of a raft of antiques that were sold last Tuesday.
And two other timepieces from the property it was found at fetched a further £4,400 between them.
A huge pine dresser and oil painting also fetched a notable £750 and £950 respectively at a sale that racked up a record amount of online action.
“We knew from the start that this clock would generate a lot of interest,” said Temple Street auction room manager Brinley Roberts of the highest earner.
“As expected, requests for condition reports and photographs started coming in almost as soon as our catalogue went on the internet.”
Potburys’ consultant valuer, Michael Willey, who retired as auctioneer in 2011, was heavily involved in cataloguing the 653 lot sale.
“Mike has a particular interest in clocks,” added Brinley “So his knowledge was key in preparing this part of the sale. The William and Mary item came from a local house clearance, along with fine furniture and two other long-case clocks which sold for £1,800 and £2,600.”
An exceptionally large pine dresser, which went on to sell for £750. was a fitting place to display a number of kitchen and household implements from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
These included a clockwork meat jack that sold for £20 and a milliner’s crimping machine that sold for £70.
These items, along with a pewter spoon warmer shaped as a nautilus shell that sold for £42, came from one local owner’s collection.
In the pictures section of the sale, an oil on board by the 20th century artist John Elwyn, entitled The Hiding Pheasant, sold for £950.
Potburys offers live internet bidding for their antiques sales – which proved handy for those caught out by the recent bad weather.
A record number of bidders registered to bid online for last Tuesday’s sale.
Potburys’ next antiques sale is set for Tuesday, April 30.
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