Record-breaking sales at online-only Lichfield auctions

Record-breaking sales at online-only Lichfield auctions

RICHARD Winterton Auctioneers has achieved record sales with two safe, online-only auctions.

The Lichfield family firm has revolutionised its business due to coronavirus in order to operate safely.

Sales at The Lichfield Auction Centre now take place behind closed doors due to COVID-19 and the latest online-only auctions turned out to be the most successful sales we have ever held!

Our Fine Arts & Specialist Sale took place behind closed doors and achieved a 91.5 per cent selling rate with 2,726 registered online bidders.

Highlights included the Peter McAleese SAS medals collection selling for £25,000 and a stunning sapphire necklet (pictured above) which fetched £32,000.

The Michael Gilbery Collection of paintings and sketches exceeded £35,000 with a self portrait of the artist (pictured below) making £10,700.

There were terrific results in all categories, from jewellery, watches (the Rolex Pearlmaster pictured above sold for £7,600) and silver to stamps, comics, cameras and whisky.

Hot on the heels of the Fine Art came our Three Day Sale on May 19-21, again held entirely behind closed doors and with strict social distancing measures in place.

With 1,349 lots entered and 1,301 sold, a 96.4 per cent selling rate was achieved with an average price of £116 per lot.

All the hard work and meticulous planning paid off as we smashed our Three Day Sale record, breaking the £150,000 bracket and attracting 2,742 bidders from around the world.

A fab collection of military watches (selection pictured below) fetched £2,000; vintage Longines and Omega watches were also popular, fetching hundreds of pounds each.

Jewellery antique and modern, pictures, ceramics, glass, militaria, sports memorabilia… again all categories absolutely flew.

A superb Fabian Perez charcoal (pictured above) made £1,600, the stamps section totalled £4,000 and a superb collection of cigarette cards and trade cards fetched £3,500.

A specialist technology section featuring music studio and multimedia equipment plus turntables, amplifiers, monitors and televisions made £7,200.

And to cap it all, we saw the strongest demand for brown furniture we’ve seen for a number of years – an Arts and Crafts golden oak wind-out dining table (pictured above) made £1,400, as did this Victorian amboyna, walnut and foliate inlaid mirror back credenza.

Bidders also proved wide awake when it came to a mahogany bed frame, which made £1,800.

It all goes to show that while we may be operating completely differently from the start of the year our results keep getting better and better!

Now we are looking forward to a completely new sales timetable as we continue to take every precaution to keep everyone safe while offering a valuable service to new and existing clients.

Our new online-only Antiques & Home Sales starting from 10am on Mondays begin on June 15, with more following on June 22 and June 29.

Also coming up soon we have a wonderful sale of steam and hand-built vehicles which will make thousands of pounds, an auction of Roman artefacts and the important house contents of a large country estate.

We deal with numerous clearances every single week, big and small. If we can put a lot number on it, we will sell it – we don’t pick and choose, we do it whole.

Detailed information on upcoming sales is available on our dedicated Auction Dates page.