Olympia Auctions


25 Blythe Road, London W14 0PD
+44 0-20-7602-4805

About Auction House

Founded in 2005, Olympia Auctions has been selling antique arms, armor and militaria in biannual auctions and is a recognized world leader in this field.  As an independent firm of auctioneers located in London, the center of the world’s art market, we remain dedicated to providing an unparalleled personal service to all our clients.

Auction Previews & News

3 Results
  • Auction Industry, Press Release
    Inaugural Chinese And Japanese Works Of Art Auction At Olympia Auctions On Wednesday 8th Of November

    Olympia Auctions’ inaugural dedicated sale of Chinese and Japanese Works of Art presents a  diverse range of Chinese Works of Art from the Neolithic period, Liangzhu Culture (3,300- 2,300BC) to the Warring Sates Period (475-221BCE), through the Ming (1368 to 1644) and Qing  Dynasties (1723-35), concluding in the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).   A large pair of Chinese Famille Rose Fish Bowls, Qing Dynasty,  Yongzheng Period (1723-35) Estimate: £40,000 - £60,000 The sale includes ceramics, bronze vessels and figures, jades including a green jade cong,  archers’ rings and small animals. Also lacquer, paintings including ancestor portraits, posters  and silk panels. Estimates range from £100 - £60,000, and 22 of the 126 lots are offered  without reserve.  From the Neolithic period, a Chinese mottled green jade cong, Liangzhu culture (3,300 – 2,300BC) is carved to each corner with a stylized mask beneath striated bands. This is from a private collection, acquired in Japan in the 1990s. There is a very similar jade cong in the Sze Yuan Tang Collection of Chinese Jades. This is pictured left and estimated at £10,000 - £15,000.  A Chinese porcelain figure of  Chairman Mao, Jingdezhen, circa 1966-76 Estimate: £1,000 - £1,500 Going forwards through the centuries, another highlight is a Zhou Dynasty (475- 221BC) archaic bronze wine vessel, (hu), from an English Private Collection which is to be offered without reserve, estimated at £15,000 - £25,000, pictured top left of the press release. A fine collection of archers rings from the Edward McEwen Collection of Archery  and Associated Items are particularly eye catching. A highlight in this group is  a stunning white jade archer’s ring, Qing Dynasty, 18th century, estimated at  £2,000 - £3,000, pictured right.   A characterful group of Chinese celadon jade animals, with pieces made throughout the  centuries of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) will no doubt appeal to collectors of this discipline. It  includes horses, dogs, a cat and mouse group and a buffalo. Estimates range from £300 - £3,000. A magnificent pair of Qing Dynasty Yongzheng Famille-Rose fish bowls pictured at the top centre of the press release is estimated at £40,000 - £60,000 and a large pair of Canton Famille-Rose baluster…

    AuctionDaily
  • Olympia Auctions announces highlights included in the British and Continental Pictures and Prints Auction
    Auction Industry
    Olympia Auctions announces highlights included in the British and Continental Pictures and Prints Auction

    Jacques Francois Carabain (1834-1933), Street Scene. Signed and dated l.l. J. Carabain f 58, oil on canvas, 74 x 92 cm / 29 x 36 in. Estimate: £2,000 - £2,500. LONDON.- The British and Continental Pictures and Prints Auction of 227 lots taking place on 22nd September commences the Autumn auction season at Olympia Auctions and boasts a roster of distinguished British and Continental artists from Hercules Brabazon Brabazon to Jean Cocteau, Sir Stanley Spencer to Emmanuel-Charles-Louis Bénézit, (son of the famous editor of the Dictionnaire des Peintres). Graham Sutherland to Serge Ivanoff, John Piper to Michel Dureuil, Augustus John to Jacques Francois Carabain, and Albert Goodwin to Grigory Leontievich Chainikov. The sale also includes a group of skilled sketches of costume designs for ballet and theatre (1920s - 1960s) including works by Hein Heckroth (1901 – 1970) who designed costumes for ‘The Big City’, (1935) set to music by Alexandre Tansman, written by Kurt Joos and performed by the Ballet Joos. It had its English premiere at Dartington Hall in 1935. This production was one of the first that the costume designer Hein Heckroth worked on in Britain, having moved from France that year. Heckroth taught art at Dartington Hall in Devon and went on to a win an Oscar for his work on ‘The Red Shoes’ in 1948. Also the sale includes a costume design for Dinsdale Landen in ‘Troilus and Cressida’, 1962, by Leslie George Hurry (1909-1978). This production of Shakespeare's ‘Troilus and Cressida’ was performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It opened in 1960 at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Straford-upon-Avon. The play was directed by John Barton and Peter Hall, costumes and set were designed by Leslie Hurry and the music was set by Humphrey Searle. A charming drawing in pen and ink and heightened with coloured washes by Alexandre Nikolayevich Benois (1870 - 1960) is extensively inscribed in pencil with notes such as where the lace for the collar should be sourced. It is most likely for one of the performances given by Les Ballet Ida Rubinstein in 1928. The performances during that season included Les Noces…

    Art Daily
  • CHARLES JAMES FOX (1822-1904)
    Auction Preview
    British & Continental Pictures and Prints

    John Piper was known for his landscape scenes of ruins, painted in the style of the 19th-century English Romantics. Piper’s wartime works became widely recognized after World War II. The artist worked on a series of street scenes that showed the destruction of iconic British churches, monuments, and buildings due to German bombs. He also worked with lighter subjects, including flora and fauna. The upcoming Olympia Auctions event presents Sunflowers & Hostas, a floral still life painting by Piper from 1986.  Another featured lot is a watercolor painting by Albert Goodwin. His artistry was recognized at an early age by his master Ford Madox Brown. He believed that Goodwin would become “one of the greatest landscape painters of the age.” Goodwin was later acclaimed for his watercolor paintings. Many of his works show the influences of Turner and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The auction also offers an oil painting by English artist Serge Ivanoff. His portraits were collected by the likes of Paul Valéry, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Pope Pius XI. The featured painting is a portrait of two young boys with a teddy bear. Interested collectors can explore the full listings and register to bid online on Olympia Auctions.

    Olympia Auctions
  • Thomas Del Mar to offer important arms & armour from prestigious collections
    Auction Industry
    Thomas Del Mar to offer important arms & armour from prestigious collections

    Among 13 lots from an Important Private Collection will be a Mid-16th Century 54 bore South German breech-loading self-spanning wheel-lock holster pistol, made in Augsburg and later part of the Collection of Lord Astor of Hever. LONDON.-Thomas Del Mar Ltd’s auction of Fine Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria on Thursday, July 30, 2020 at Olympia Auctions, 25 Blythe Road, London W14 will include a fascinating selection of items from several important collections including a number of elements from the Spanish armoury of the Duke of Infantado. Among 13 lots from an Important Private Collection will be a Mid-16th Century 54 bore South German breech-loading self-spanning wheel-lock holster pistol, made in Augsburg and later part of the Collection of Lord Astor of Hever. As stated in the Hever catalogue of 1983, ‘this pistol displays exceptional technical innovation for the period. It can be loaded at the breech with a removable cartridge that is complete with a pan, thus allowing the user to insert a preloaded and primed cartridge into the chamber. Furthermore it can be used as a self-spanning wheellock or primed with a key. No other pistol of this early date displays so many refinements.’ It is estimated at £25,000-30,000. Two other items from the same Collection, include a rare large Central European decorated sporting crossbow, dating from late 16th/17th century, and possibly Bohemian which is estimated at £6,000-8,000, and also once part of the Hever Collection is a rare German combined halberd and 80 bore wheel-lock pistol, dating from the first quarter of the 17th century (Est: £4,000-6,000). From the nine lots from the Property of a Gentleman, is a fine pair of 22-bore silver mounted flintlock holster pistols by John Cosens, circa 1690. Bearing the crest of Philipson, which is believed to be Christopher Philipson (1646-1709), of Crook Hall, Member of Parliament for Westmorland in 1679. Philipson served as a Royalist militia officer and assisted Daniel Fleming in breaking up a Quaker meeting at Windermere in 1675. He replaced Sir John Lowther III as the honourable member for Westmorland in the second Exclusion Parliament. For his efforts he…

    Art Daily