Auctioneer brings hammer down on king’s head

BRINGING a hammer down on the head of a king sounds like treason, but that’s exactly what happened at an antiques auction in Cirencester last week. Fitting, then, that later in the sale auctioneer Philip Allwood found himself at the scaffold.

Bidding for the medieval stone carved head of a bearded and crowned man, believed to represent King Bladud, finished at £580 when the gavel fell – nearly three times its £200 estimate – at Moore Allen & Innocent’s antique and general sale on Friday, March 20.

As everyone who has been to ‘Roman Bath’ knows, it was actually Bladud – son of the brilliantly-named Rud Hud Hudibras - who founded the city after curing himself of leprosy by rolling around in the same muddy puddle as a herd of pigs at that site. The Romans merely turned up 800 years later and replaced the muddy puddles with hot water baths, erected a few columns and built the odd paved road.

Elsewhere, it was a good sale for furniture. A late Victorian painted pine two piece bedroom suite comprising of a wardrobe and chest of drawers, each with panels of trailing sweet peas in the aesthetic taste, sold for £260 against an estimate of £100 to £150.

Meanwhile, an oak hall stand in the 17th century manner, incorporating early carved panels, sold for £190 against an estimate of £100 to £150. The piece was sold commission-free on behalf of the charity Sue Ryder Care in Cirencester, whose staff called in experts from Moore Allen after customers started expressing an interest in it before it had even been priced up.

The top price of the day was reserved for an 18 carat yellow and white gold eternity ring set with five diamonds, which sold for £900.

While the most unusual lot of the day was a quantity of scaffold towering, a modern spa bath and a pair of aluminium steps. With an estimate of £100 to £150, auctioneer and vendor were delighted when it achieved £840.

A late Victorian painted pine two piece bedroom suite	A medieval stone carved head of a bearded and crowned man, believed to represent King Bladud
	An oak hall stand in the 17th Century manner.