There’s a lot happening all over the art market, not just at the top end of it. Dreweatts & Bloomsbury just partnered with George Bailey’s The Auction Room with a sale of pictures, books and furniture from the Royal Agricultural Society of Britain:

Total Lots: 328; Estimate total: £153,200-218,150; Hammer total: £400,400

Total including buyer’s premium: £496,496

Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions, together with The Auction Room, sold a selection of works from The Royal Agricultural Society of England in a ground-breaking bidding initiative that saw the auctioneering duo offer pre-auction timed bidding via www.theauctionroom.com, followed by a live auction held at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions’ busy saleroom in London’s Mayfair on Friday 11th July where there was standing room only.

The sale was a celebration of Agricultural history and featured antiques across a number of disciplines, including books, old master paintings, prints, ceramics and works of art. The collaboration was a bold and innovative move that received an exceptional reception from bidders with prices rising far beyond high-estimate.

◊ An oil on canvas portrait of HRH Princess Elizabeth by Sir Oswald Birley (1880-1952) stole the attention of bidders, selling for £49,600 [Lot 121]. Another painting by Birley of King George VI also saw competitive bidding and sold for £9,920 [Lot 120] whilst Royal Show, 1951: Festival of Britain Year by Terence Cuneo (1907-1996), oil on canvas, sold for an impressive £26,040 [Lot 122]