Antiques With Gary Don June 2016

Antiques With Gary Don

Antiques With Gary Don

Antiques With Gary Don

Hi GaryA few years ago I inherited a pocket watch from a family member. Today I decided to have a proper look at it and discovered inside the name John Farrer of Pontefract 1702. Could this possibly be a date or just a number. It is in a silver case with an anchor and a U also HW. Any information you could give me would be much appreciated.
A Sherlock Holmes discovery!
We have spent a large amount of time researching this pocket watch as the facts given did not add up. The Farrer family were a well-known watch making family in Pontefract in the 18th/19th centuries but John Sr. was born in 1765 and John Jr. in 1799. The watch could not have been made in 1702 unless we had discovered an unknown family member. The hallmark on the silver case shows it was made in Birmingham but the assay office was not established there until 1773. We finally discovered that the inscription actually had another figure after 1702, so proving that that was not the date it was made, but simply a model number.
Elementary!
A similar watch sold recently in excellent condition for £300-400.
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Hi Gary,
I’ve had this picture for over 20 years and my dad had it for years before that. I’ve always wondered if it was worth anything, probably not but I’d love to know for sure.
It’s a lovely little picture by F.Womack. Do you know anything about it, any info would be appreciated.
Thanks, Jean Ward
Dear Jean,
Thank you for your email.
We have special internet programmes that, although very expensive to join, are absolutely invaluable to us as they give us records of all artists sold at auction over the last 20 years and the prices that the artwork fetched. Having exhausted these sites, we have not been able to find any work by F. Womack coming up for sale. It may well be that it was painted by a local artist, and perhaps one of our readers may be able to throw some light on it. Although it does not appear to be a great work of art, it is a nice subject and from your description obviously gives you much pleasure. It would probably sell for under £100, but that should not detract from the enjoyment you have received from this picture. The value of a piece of art is often dictated by fashion and not always to do with quality, Who knows, yours may be an artist of the future!

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Antiques with Gary Don

Dear Gary
Please could you advise as to the value of this cabinet gifted to me about 25 years ago.
I’ve been told it’s possibly late Victorian/ early Georgian
Thank you
Susan
Dear Susan
This is a lovely example of a music cabinet. Some of the earliest music cabinets were made from satinwood with fine inlay and there are many examples of these found in stately homes in the music room next to a harpsichord. Your cabinet is a later example and was popular in the late Victorian and Edwardian times. It looks to be made of mahogany with a nice carved panel. In the 1970’s these cabinets were selling for as much as £600 – 700. Sadly today, the new musicians tend to play computerised keyboards and download their music from the internet. The market for pianos, sheet music and music cabinets has declined, and today it would probably sell for
£80 – 120.

Antiques with Gary Don

Antiques with Gary Don

Dear Gary,
I enclose a photo of an Enamel Advertising Sign `Robin Starch`, white lettering on dark blue ground depicting the famous robin sat upon a stiff, white collar. It is in very good condition and was found in my grandmother’s garage. Is there any market for it?
Thank you,
Mrs. Thomas
Dear Mrs. Thomas,
Thank you for your email. There is a big collectors market nowadays for old original enamel advertising signs, particularly retro ones. We always have a tremendous response at our auctions for these. The buyers range from individual collectors to restauranteurs and interior designers.
If this was entered into one of our specialist auctions, we would put it in with an estimate of £600 – 900.

You may be sat on a treasure trove! It is often the items that you think are worthless that can turn out to be the most valuable. Not sure?
Then send an email to antiques@yorkshirereporter.co.uk.
I will answer everyone.
Look forward to valuing for you

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