The Top 10
Below our top 10 of lots sold by Michael J Bowman auctions. So many lots, so many years, here are some of the highlights. Annual printed catalogue subscription for our 6 sales per year is available for just £20 including postage. Contact us if you would like to subscribe.
7. SOLD FOR £23,000
A leading UK art dealer sent his representative to Devon to buy the postcard-sized oil on panel by L.S. Lowry included in the January 1999 auction. The vendor, a retired doctor on Dartmoor, had been disappointed when selling another Lowry work in one of the main London rooms but was delighted with this result!
5. SOLD FOR £31,000
Four telephone bidders competed for this 4" x 6" ink sketch of Rat, Mole & Toad by Ernest Shepard in the May 2012 auction at Chudleigh. A London bidder was forced to pay a triple estimate price on behalf of a Canadian client.
This ranks as a very strong result for a Wind in the Willows drawing.
3. SOLD FOR £41,000
Two of the UK's leading art dealers were present in the room when this small oil on canvas by the Victorian artist Henry Herbert LaThangue was offered at Chudleigh in March 2000. One of them was the eventual buyer but this was achieved in the face of serious interest from the Westcountry. It came from a local farming family who had no idea of its potential value despite some damage.
2. SOLD FOR £41,000
This wall cabinet made from oak salvaged from Nelson's flagship HMS Foudroyant, sailed above its estimate at Chudleigh in September 2022. Its local vendor had purchased it at auction in Exeter for £16,000 less than 10 years previously but had never found the room to hang it! It is now on display in a large London pub.
Michael Bowman is always looking for suitable entries for his future auctions. Get in touch if you think you may have something special that you would like us to auction for you.