The Real Deal at auction on April 1st

A COLLECTION of Doulton pottery described by TV antiques expert David Dickinson as “magnificent” and “fabulous” will go under the hammer of Cirencester auctioneers Moore Allen & Innocent on Thursday, April 1, as part of the ITV show Dickinson’s Real Deal.

The collection was among the items brought to the Real Deal road show at the Oasis leisure centre in Swindon back in February, and immediately caught the eye of David Dickinson and Moore Allen’s Philip Allwood, one of the show’s resident antiques experts.

The collection includes a pair of vases featuring donkeys, decorated by Hannah Barlow, one of the Lambeth School of Arts students who, in 1871, started to decorate the pottery which previously had been plain glazed stoneware, reigniting the nation’s love affair with decorated ceramics.

Philip estimated that the vases alone would command bids of between £1,000 and £1,500 at auction.

A pair of vases decorated with geese, also by Hannah Barlow, were valued at £800 to £1,200, and a hand painted vase in the art nouveau style featuring the initials JE was estimated at £500 to £800.

A couple of Doulton & Rix bowls were estimated at £300 to £500 and £200 to £300, and a Mark V Marshall flowerpot in the form of a fish was estimated at £300 to £500.

The premise of Real Deal is that the antiques are valued by an auctioneer, who will offer to take the items to auction, and a dealer, who will offer their owners a bundle of cash on the spot.

Also going under the hammer for the show is a 1930s-style W H Smith shop sign in wrought iron, featuring the WHS logo and a newspaper boy crying the headlines, with an estimate of £300 to £500, and a blue plush teddy bear from the 1920s or 30s – in well-loved condition but collectable due to his rare colour – who is expected to make between £100 and £150.

Meanwhile a photograph signed by all four members of The Who early on in their career is expected to fetch £150 to £200. The black and white publicity shot comes in an envelope stamped The Who and is addressed to an M Entwistle of Newport, Monmouthshire – any relation to The Who bassist John Entwistle, one might wonder?

Finally, described as ‘rare as hen’s teeth’ by the auctioneer is a set of Tungstone Accumulator Series sports cards, in their original postage sleeve, from 1932.

The set of 52 cards, issued to purchasers of a Tungstone battery who completed and returned a registration card, featured illustrated guides on how to perform snooker or billiards ‘wonder strokes’ by Walter Lindrum and Joe Davis – both World Billiards Championships winners of the 1930s. The set carries an estimate of £500 to £700.

David Dickinson, Gemma Croucher and auctioneer Philip Allwood	Gemma and Philip with the Doulton Hannah Barlow donkey vases
A signed photograph of The Who	A blue plush teddy bear from the 1920s or 30s
A set of Tungstone Accumulator Series sports cards, in their original postage sleeve, from 1932	A 1930s-style W H Smith shop sign
The collection of ceramics that will be going under the hammer