Ewbank’s
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Auction IndustryTony Hart auction reveals how his work on another BBC show years before inspired the Blue Peter Ship emblem
General view. Courtesy of Ewbank’s Auctions. LONDON.- Copies of original 1950s designs for the Blue Peter ship emblem by TV artist and presenter Tony Hart will come to auction at Ewbank’s in Surrey on January 29. Consigned from the collection of Hart’s close friend and agent Roc Renals (1922-2014), the 55-lot sale is expected to raise close to £20,000. It also includes artwork and correspondence spanning the Vision On and Take Hart presenter’s career from the 1950s onwards, including superb ink and watercolour views of the Montserrat home and AIR studio of Renals’ friend, Beatles producer George Martin, not long before they were destroyed in a 1989 hurricane. The studios had hosted recording sessions for Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Rolling Stones and many other top stars. Hart’s earliest TV artwork, created on commission for a 1952 BBC programme called Saturday Special, reveals his original inspiration for the Blue Peter ship, six years before the children’s TV show launched. Depicting a galleon in full sail, with streaming pennants – just as the Blue Peter ship would when the programme launched in 1958 – the BAFTA award-winning artist used the design as part of a story entitled Hooray for Humpty-Dumpty, featuring egg-like characters as pirates. String of highlightsOffered in the auction with a number of other ink and watercolour drawings for the show, the single image of the lone galleon is expected to fetch up to £1,200. Another also showing the galleon ploughing through swelling seas should make around £1,000 say Ewbank’s, the same estimate as yet another image showing the galleon at anchor in an island harbour. Additional highlights illustrate the full range and versatility of Tony Hart (1925-2009), from accomplished landscape artist to bravura caricaturist. They include a 1969 semi-abstract landscape view of the Ligurian coast that carries a guide of £1,000-2,000, a painting-by-numbers original self-portrait, thought to have been created for one his TV shows, at £400-600, Montserrat and Genovese landscapes at various estimates and even the original signed caricature drawing of the late great Brian Johnston, created for the cricket commentator’s 1994 book I Say, I Say. One lot,…
Auction ResultExtraordinary Tony Parker Collection a sell-out sensation at Ewbank’s in Surrey
A Hofner 500/1 violin bass guitar dating to 1965 made £1,300. WOKING.-Ewbank’s Auctions proved that there is someone for everything when one of the most bizarre and eclectic collections ever to come to auction sold out for twice the predicted price today (August 26). The ‘white glove’ auction included 274 lots which sold together for more than £76,000 including premium – well over the high estimate of £34,340. With nearly all of the lots going to online bidders, the result was a fitting tribute to the late Tony Parker, who died aged just 70 last year. A fine example of the ultimate collector, his home in the south of England was covered wall to wall, ceiling to floor in his beloved rock, pop and entertainment memorabilia – especially linked to The Beatles – as well as the historical, the quirky and the quaint. From gold discs and musical instruments, to movie costumes and photos of the stars, as well as an extraordinary range of taxidermy, he had it all, with countless additional items of interest from many and varied fields. Highlights at the sale included a vampire hunter’s kit, a fossilised penis bone from a walrus, a Star Trek latex Borg mask and original memorabilia from the TV gameshow Bullseye. The top price for an individual lot was the £2,800 paid for a full-size Zebra sculpture originally sold for charity by Marwell Zoo. Painted with the iconic Abbey Road image of The Beatles, the estimate had been £800-1,200. A large amusement arcade automaton, Laugh with Jolly Jack, which came in a glass case against a background painted in tribute to The Beatles song I Am The Walrus, shot past its £200-400 guide to take £1,500, while Parker’s impressive collection of electric guitars yielded two of the other top lots: a Hofner 500/1 violin bass guitar dating to 1965 that made £1,300 against a pitch of £500-600, and a Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar that went for £1,100 against hopes of £300-500. “What made this special was that the sale was incredibly inclusive,” said the auctioneers’ partner, Andrew Ewbank. “While several…
Auction IndustryEccentric, astonishing, fascinating – the extraordinary Tony Parker Collection comes to auction at Ewbank’s in Surrey
Tony Parker's home in the south of England was covered wall to wall, ceiling to floor in his beloved rock, pop and entertainment memorabilia. WOKING.- What do a vampire hunter’s kit, a fossilised penis bone from a walrus, a Star Trek latex Borg mask and original memorabilia from the TV gameshow Bullseye have in common? The answer is the late Tony Parker, who died aged just 70 last year. A fine example of the ultimate collector, his home in the south of England was covered wall to wall, ceiling to floor in his beloved rock, pop and entertainment memorabilia – especially linked to The Beatles – as well as the historical, the quirky and the quaint. From gold discs and musical instruments, to movie costumes and photos of the stars, as well as an extraordinary range of taxidermy, he had it all, with countless additional items of interest from many and varied fields. Now Ewbank’s Auctions are to offer around 300 lots from his collection in the dedicated sale, Magical Mystery Tour – The Tony Parker Collection, on August 26. What amounts to one of the most eclectic and bizarre collections ever consigned to auction is expected to fetch around £30,000. Tony Parker’s daughter, Fay Capstick, explains what made her father such an obsessive collector and extraordinary character. “He was an eccentric and ever inquisitive, whether about space, history or the paranormal. But he was also a musician and would-be pop star. I think once he started collecting and filling the house, particularly when he did the top floor extension, it became an all-consuming passion and he loved to see everything he owned right in front of him.” The house, as remarkable as the collection itself, became a landmark in the village of West End near Southampton, as Tony added to it over the years. The garden, dominated by a pond, with statues, architectural pieces and even a parking meter and a telescope from the promenade Isle of Wight ferry, became as much a talking point as the stained glass, turret and gothic features with which he dressed the property. On the inside,…
Auction IndustryTwin Sister Medics Returning To The Same Front-Line ICU Inspire New NHS Auction
Caroline McCrea, centre, with her colleagues in Portsmouth. Caroline’s sister, Francesca, has also returned after maternity leave. Now Caroline’s husband, auction specialist Alastair, is doing his bit to support them with a charity auction at Ewbank’s in Surrey. WOKING.- When Ewbank’s Auctioneers decided to stage a charity auction for the NHS they had a particularly personal reason for doing so. Alastair McCrea, who heads the auction house’s Entertainment & Sporting Memorabilia department, had just waved goodbye to his wife Caroline, who was returning to work as an Advanced Critical Care Practitioner in Intensive Care at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth after maternity leave, leaving 9-month-old Joshua at home with Alastair. Joining her in ICU was her twin sister, Francesca, a doctor who was also returning from maternity leave having given birth to daughter Willow the day before Joshua was born. “It’s been an intense experience for Caroline and Francesca,” reveals Alastair. “After Caroline’s first shift on April 2, she came home shell shocked at the level of patients coming into the hospital and just how sick they are. With both our parents in the vulnerable /elderly category and lack of nurseries available this is a tough time for us.” Alastair revealed that the hardest part has been the impact of the protective clothing and masks the hospital staff have to wear. “This effectively removes the human element of nursing and care as the only personal contact is via the eyes. This is particularly striking because the patients are not able to have any contact with their loved ones during this time.” Alastair decided he wanted to support them in the best way he could, by raising money through a charity auction for Queen Alexandra and for the Royal Surrey Hospital in Guildford, where Joshua was born and near where the auction house is based. Local businesses and individuals have been swift to react to the call for pledges for Ewbank’s Rainbow Charity Auction. “I have appealed for people to donate experiences rather than objects,” says Alastair, “because I also want to support businesses where possible to help them get back on their feet after…
Press ReleaseEarly coastal scene by landmark Australian painter comes to auction at Ewbank’s.
Forrest’s views also used in Tasmania’s first ever pictorial stamps When the six colonies of pre-Federation Australia chose the images for their first ever set of pictorial stamps, the authorities in Tasmania turned to Haughton Forrest (1826-1925), one of the first Western artists to capture the majesty of the country’s landscape on canvas. His painting Russell Falls, depicting a celebrated tiered cascade at the centre of Tasmania, was selected as the image for the 4d stamp, while his view of Mount Wellington was used for the 1d stamp. The set, first issued in 1899, was reprinted and reissued several times until 1912, with Australia as a nation issuing its first set of stamps in 1913. Now Ewbank’s Auctions are to sell another Australian painting by Forrest as part of their 30th Anniversary sale on March 19. ‘Cowes’, Schooner and other ships in a Bay against a mountainous landscape, a signed and dated and inscribed oil on canvas, dates to the 1870s (the exact date is indistinct) when Forrest took up residency on Tasmania, acting as Bailiff of Crown Lands, Inspector of Nuisances and Superintendent of Police. Cowes is on Phillip Island, approximately 200kkm north of Tasmania off the coast of Southern Australia. The 44cm x 75cm picture depicts the schooner, with only one sail raised, in the calm waters of a sound, with other ships and boats visible through the mist and the formidable mountains plunging down into the water as a dramatic background, possibly the peaks of the nearby Mornington Peninsula Forrest, the son of an equerry to Queen Victoria, took up sailing and painting in the south of England following a military career as a Captain in the Honourable Artillery Company, and produced a number of canvases of boats and ships, later painting others in the setting of Highland lochs. He left England with his family in 1875, initially to try his hand running a plantation in Brazil then, a year later, in north eastern Tasmania, before abandoning the idea and becoming a Crown official. In 1881, he gave up all his official posts and devoted his attention full time…
Auction IndustryTale Of Fraud And Intrigue Comes To Light From Cryptic Letter That Accompanies Picture As Family Consigns It To Auction
Bottled beer, Rupert Murdoch and a very public scandal – the secret history of an Elizabethan portrait. Image courtesy of Ewbank’s Auctions. WOKING.- He may look a rather severe figure but Alexander Nowell, Dean of St Paul’s for 42 years throughout Elizabeth I’s reign, had a lighter side to his nature – as the man credited with inventing bottled beer. A cryptic letter that comes with the portrait has led to the discovery of links to Rupert Murdoch and a very public family scandal whose resolution involved the portrait being granted as a gift. The story has unfolded as Dean Nowell’s descendants consigned this portrait of the long-lived scholar and cleric, born around 1517, who died in 1602, for sale to Ewbank’s Auctions of Surrey, who will offer it as a highlight of their three-day 30th Anniversary sale from March 18-20. A keen fisherman, Nowell was known as a piscator hominum – a fisher of men, the title granted to St Peter by Jesus and associated with priests – and according to Thomas Fuller’s History of the Worthies of Britain, he accidentally invented bottled beer on one of his excursions with rod and line to the river bank. The story goes that Nowell left a bottle of beer, decanted from a barrel, on the river bank during a fishing trip, forgetting about it. He rediscovered it by chance a few days later and found it was still “perfectly drinkable”. When he opened the still-full bottle, “he found no bottle, but a gun, such was the sound at the opening thereof; and this is believed the original of bottled ale in England”. Even more fascinating is the tale behind the letter written by Robert Sherson, a doctor and apothecary, to his cousin, the Dean’s namesake Alexander Nowell, in 1811, gifting him the portrait in gratitude for “your obliging endeavours to defend the conduct of my oppressed and much injured son”. Research has revealed that the “much injured son” was also called Robert Sherson, a senior official in the East India Company and in charge of famine relief in storm-hit Madras in 1807. An article…
Auction IndustryEarly Coastal Scene By Landmark Australian Painter Comes To Auction At Ewbank’s
Haughton Forrest (Australian, 1826-1925). Cowes, Schooner and other ships in a Bay against a mountainous landscape. Signed H. Forrest, Cowes, 18??. 44 cm x 75 cm. Estimate £1000-1500 at Ewbank’s Auctions on March 19. LONDON.- When the six colonies of pre-Federation Australia chose the images for their first ever set of pictorial stamps, the authorities in Tasmania turned to Haughton Forrest (1826-1925), one of the first Western artists to capture the majesty of the country’s landscape on canvas. His painting Russell Falls, depicting a celebrated tiered cascade at the centre of Tasmania, was selected as the image for the 4d stamp, while his view of Mount Wellington was used for the 1d stamp. The set, first issued in 1899, was reprinted and reissued several times until 1912, with Australia as a nation issuing its first set of stamps in 1913. Now Ewbank’s Auctions are to sell another Australian painting by Forrest as part of their 30th Anniversary sale on March 19. ‘Cowes’, Schooner and other ships in a Bay against a mountainous landscape, a signed and dated and inscribed oil on canvas (the exact date is indistinct) when Forrest took up residency on Tasmania, acting as Bailiff of Crown Lands, Inspector of Nuisances and Superintendent of Police. Cowes is on Phillip Island, approximately 200km north of Tasmania off the coast of Southern Australia. The 44cm x 75cm picture depicts the schooner, with only one sail raised, in the calm waters of a sound, with other ships and boats visible through the mist and the formidable mountains plunging down into the water as a dramatic background, possibly the peaks of the nearby Mornington Peninsula Forrest, the son of an equerry to Queen Victoria, took up sailing and painting in the south of England following a military career as a Captain in the Honourable Artillery Company, and produced a number of canvases of boats and ships, later painting others in the setting of Highland lochs. He left England with his family in 1875, initially to try his hand running a plantation in Brazil then, a year later, in north eastern Tasmania, before abandoning the idea…
- Press Release
Contemporary Art & Modern British Paintings Auction At Ewbank’s.
Ewbank’s, Surrey’s leading international auction house, is preparing for its sale of Contemporary Art and Modern British Paintings on October 24 at its saleroom just outside Guildford on the A3. Consignments of original artworks and limited edition prints for sale are being accepted until October 18, so do get in touch with the team for a valuation of any pieces to be consigned for sale. Many intriguing works have already been catalogued including a signed oil-on-paper by Australian-British artist Sidney Robert Nolan (1917 – 1992), one of Australia’s leading artists of the 20th century. The large piece, measuring 53cm by 77cm, is entitled Australian Landscape, and has been valued at between £3,000 and £5,000. Nolan worked in a wide variety of mediums and across many genres, but is best known for his paintings of legends from Australian history, including infamous bushranger and outlaw, Ned Kelly. One of the highest-value pieces already catalogued for sale is a photograph by American artist David La Chapelle (born 1963). The large work, measuring 58cm by 38cm, is entitled Money Shot, and carries a pre-sale guide price of between £5,000 and £8,000. A limited-edition bronze sculpture by renowned Spanish artist Salvador Dali (1904 – 1989) is also going under the hammer. The signed piece entitled Surrealist Angel, stands 56cm high, and is numbered 815 / 500. It has an estimate of between £2,000 and £3,000, and comes with a certificate and a copy of Rudolph Dom’s book, Salvador Dali The Surrealist Angel. The sculpture is part of a single-owner collection of modern art sculpture, and modern design in this auction, consigned for sale by a London-based collector. Other pieces from this collection include two, large, signed oil-on-canvas paintings of flowers by Annie Bardoulat (born 1962), both valued at between £1,000 and £1,500 each. One is entitled Iris VI and Violets and measures 160cm by 100cm, and the other, called Renoncules 2, is 146cm by 100cm. One of the more unusual pieces on sale is a wooden sculpture of a pair of cowboy boots, by Italian artist Livio De Marchi (born 1943). Sold with a copy…
- Press Release
Vintage Toys On Sale At Ewbank’s On October 2
Ewbank’s, Surrey’s leading international auction house, already has more than 200 lots catalogued for sale for its ever-popular toy sale, on October 2. The market for collectors is strong so the team advises anyone with items to consign for sale, to get in touch with the team before September 25. Brands to look out for include cars made by Dinky or Corgi, and Meccano sets. Other items which always garner interest from buyers include clockwork and mechanical toys, locomotives, action man, retro games consoles, and high-quality models. A collection of mint-condition boxed Dinky electric dairy vans, issued in the 1960s as a trade promotion are going under the hammer, will be sure to pique the interest of collectors. The milk floats have been consigned by a family who owned a local Job’s Dairy for many years. The toys were put away in a cupboard since they were delivered, it appears just eight of the original trade boxes were given out. There are 32 lots of six of these Dinky 1960 Job’s Dairy milk floats on sale, which are estimated at £250 to £350 each. The milk floats are cream with red lettering and red load-bed, and have treaded tyres. Each vehicle comes in a plain yellow box, and six of these are housed in the original trade box. One of the most valuable items already consigned for sale is a Markie 1/10 scale precision, live steam agricultural traction engine in black and maroon livery with brass fittings. It carries a pre-sale guide price of between £800 and £1,200, and measures 64cm long, 37cm high, and 28cm wide. Another locomotive going under the hammer is a Stuart precision live steam plant, with vertical boiler, marked 'Stuart', supported on a wooden plinth base, 38cm high overall. It has an estimate of between £400 and £600. This is one of 42 lots of live steam models consigned by a single owner. A collection of 18 models of ships are also on sale, which includes a scale model warship, Sovereign of the Seas, by Admiralty Ship Models, carrying an estimate of between £100 and £200.…
- Press Release
Cricket Legend Ben Stokes’ Gloves On Sale At Ewbank’s.
Entertainment & Memorabilia Auction on 3/4 October Sport and movie fans will be intrigued by a raft of memorabilia going under the hammer at Ewbank’s, Surrey’s leading international auction house, on October 3 and 4. Among these is a pair of gloves worn by Ben Stokes, English international cricketer and current vice-captain of the England test team, during the 2015 Ashes series against Australia, which saw England take back the trophy. The New Balance gloves, signed by Stokes across both wrists, are valued between £2,000 and £4,000. They come with a certificate of authenticity and original charity auction catalogue. One of the most valuable lots already consigned for sale is the original final artwork for 1986 cult classic move, Big Trouble in Little China, starring Kurt Russell and Kim Cattrall. The piece, signed by British designer and artist Brian Bysouth, is gouache on board and has a pre-sale guide price of between £8,000 and £12,000. The film title and credits would have been applied as an overlay at a later date. The lot is consigned for sale by Bysouth and comes with letter of authenticity signed by the artist and Ewbank’s. Experts at Ewbank’s described it as “one of the most iconic pieces of artwork to appear to market to date”. Harry Potter and James Bond are consistently popular franchises, with memorabilia always seeing great interest from buyers in the UK and internationally. In the early October sale, is a signed 1999 paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It is signed to the inside by 15 stars of the movies including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, John Hurt, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Richard Harris, and Fiona Shaw. The book has a guide price of between £1,500 and £2,500 and comes with a letter of authenticity. Among the James Bond lots is an original screenplay for A View To A Kill, dated 20 June 1984. On the front cover is the name 'Walter' in pencil to the top right, and it is numbered 123 to inside page. With revision pages, there are 150 pages in total. It carries…
Press ReleaseEwbank’s To Host BBC Antiques Roadtrip At Autumn Three Day Auction.
Antiques, Art, Clocks and Furniture on sale on September 13 Ewbank’s, Surrey’s leading international auction house, is preparing for its three-day Autumn sale in mid-September, and on the third day, September 13, BBC’s Antiques Roadshow will be filming. On this day a raft of antiques, fine art, clocks, furniture and rugs will be going under the hammer, there is still time to consign, the deadline is September 6. September 11 is the first day of the three-day event and features jewellery, watches and coins; day two sees fine silver and Japanese works of art going under the hammer. Consignments are also being accepted for these auctions now. Among the paintings on sale on September 13 are three by Czech-Italian artist Antonietta Brandeis (1848-1926) who is best known for her landscapes, in particular of Venice where she studied, as well as a painter of religious subjects for altarpieces. A beautiful signed oil-on-board by the artist entitled Vendramin Palace, Venice, has been valued at between £4,000 and £6,000; Labbia Palace, another oil-on-board, estimated between £2,000 and £3,000; and another called Venetian Canal is also valued between £2,000 and £3,000. Other paintings of note include a signed landscape of a young girl and dog by a river by British artist Robert Gallon (1845-1925) with a pre-sale guide price of between £400 and £600; and a watercolour entitled Shoreham Valley by British artist Roland Hilder (1905-1993) also valued at between £400 and £600. In furniture there is an appealing 18th century and later Genoese ebonised and ivory inlaid cabinet on 19th century stand, carries an estimate of between £5,000 and £10,000. It has sixteen small drawers, each with cast gilt bronze figurehead handles and multiple secret / document drawers. Collectors are sure to be intrigued by a three-inch terrestrial pocket globe, valued at between £2,500 and £4,000. The maker of the pocket globe is R.B Bate and it is dated 1807. The globe has twelve hand-coloured engraved gores, two metal axis pins to poles allow the globe to rotate in its original fish-skin case. The clock auction is always popular, and one of the…
