Collector’s items have become the strong point at Strides’ Chichester auctions.  With almost 1000 lots on offer, bidders went mainly for porcelain and silver. The day’s highest price was given for a Georgian mahogany longcase clock by the Chichester maker Edward Box.  With a rocking galleon in the arch above a silvered 30cms (12ins) dial, Strides had hoped a local collector might acquire it, with an estimate of £1500-£2000.  It finally sold to a Berkshire bidder for £2400, underbid by a Brighton dealer. 

Good collections of silver rarely appear on the market.  With the death of a Swiss collector, the family shared what they wanted to keep and sold the residue – a mixture of French, Chinese, Indian, English and Continental.  The better pieces were English and included a pair of George III silver coasters by Robert Hennell made in 1792 for which £400-£600 had been expected.  They sold for £1500.  A pair of George III silver sauceboats by Whyte & Holmes, London 1764 were in such good condition that initially the auctioneers expressed fears that they might be copies.  These fears proved unfounded and the sauceboats together weighing 22ozs passed their estimate of £1200-£1500 to sell for £1800.  From a different vendor, a 2 inch (5cms) silver box by the renowned Victorian silversmith Nathaniel Mills brought a host of enquiries.  This small oblong gilt box was made as a vinaigrette (originally containing a sponge soaked in smelling salts) in 1842, the cast lid depicting the Palace of Westminster.  Estimated at £1000-£1200, it sold for £1300.

The happiest man of the sale was the buyer of a set of 4 Regency Coalport wall pockets, of which he had identified the artist as probably Moses Webster c1820.  The auctioneers had valued these for probate a year or two ago at £1200 and despite restoration to three out of the four they sold for £1500.

A pair of Meissen porcelain sauceboats painted with sprays of flowers and dolphin handles had been expected to make £600-£800 and duly sold for £650.  A quantity of Wedgwood jasperware plaques had been estimated at £400-£600 but a hefty bid from the USA pushed them up to £720.  Moorcroft collectors were still after rare or early examples.  A pomegranate vase 12cms (5ins) together with a similar 3 piece teaset in poor condition, with a hammered pewter rim made £520 (estimate £300-£400) while an old Moorcroft red baluster vase decorated leaves and berries 16cms (6ins) made £440 (estimate £300-£400).  For collectors of glass , an impressive pair of frosted glass swans by Lalique sold at £1200 (estimate £800-£1000).

Japanese ivories and woodcuts were well represented; a collection of woodcuts including examples by Hokusai and Kunisada were split into 5 lots and made an aggregate total of just over £1000.  Among the ivory carvings, a Japanese figure of a standing sage 25cms (10ins) sold for £600.  A Japanese ivory carving of a group of frogs and an entwined snake on a lily pad 11cms (4ins) went for £700.

In clearing a Hampshire house, the solicitors asked Strides to deal with the car in the garage.  A 1999 Suzuki Wagon+ automatic car with 27,000 miles on the clock attracted a number of bidders.  Estimated at £800-£1200 it had not been driven for over a year and had no MOT, yet it sold to a local man for £1060 for his mother-in-law who lives in the Lake District.