Twenty auctions and 2,172 lots sold made for a full September. The month moved from gold sovereigns and rare banknotes to mid-century design, country furniture and some of the finest Staithes Group paintings we have offered this year. We also had the privilege of selling works from the home and studio of Grimsby painter Gillian Ross Kelsey, a career in colour spanning several decades. Along the way, one Victorian street scene was dated by a single sandwich-board man, and an Edinburgh oil sketch turned out to be linked to a much larger work sold at Bonhams.

Here are some of the results that stood out.

Coins, Banknotes & Stamps

Thursday, 3 September 2026 | 11:00

Gold led the way in our specialist coin sale. A Queen Elizabeth II Gibraltar 2020 'The Greatest Briton' gold proof quintuple sovereign, cased with its certificate, sold for £2,800. The London Mint Office's 2020 World War II Western Allied Set sold for £1,900. It brought together four gold coins from the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Canada. A 1907 United States 'Eagle' gold ten dollar coin sold for £1,200. Paper money also did well: a King George V Bradbury Treasury Essay one pound note sold for £1,700.

View the full sale results.

Gillian Ross Kelsey: A Lifetime in Colour

Friday, 4 September 2026 | 14:00

This single-artist collection came directly from the home and studio of Gillian Ross Kelsey. She was born in Grimsby, trained at Camberwell School of Art and later lectured at Grimsby School of Art. Over her long career she moved from landscapes and still lifes towards bold abstract work built on colour, shape and light. 'Night Garden', an acrylic glaze on board, sold for £460. A triptych of 'Green Triangle 1', 'Green Triangle 2' and 'Sandbar 2' sold for £240. 'Celtic Impressions' and 'Pisces' each sold for £220.

View the full sale results.

Modern Living & Design

Friday, 4 September 2026 | 11:00

Design classics and contemporary craft sat side by side in this sale. A Charles and Ray Eames lounge chair for Herman Miller, made under licence by Hille of London, sold for £2,100. Close behind was Sarah Denny's 'Gathering Vessel', a Britannia silver sculpture hallmarked Sheffield 2009, which sold for £1,800. The artist described it as a cone that opens wide and tilts upward to gather all it can from above. An Eileen Gray for JUMO black and chrome table lamp sold for £600. A c1970s Troika Double Bass vase by Sylvia Vallance sold for £360.

View the full sale results.

Country Living

Thursday, 10 September 2026 | 11:00

The top lot in Country Living was a Timothy Oulton saddle chair and stool in chocolate brown leather, with stirrups fitted to the sides, which sold for £2,400. An And So To Bed 'Bonaparte' super king mahogany bed, upholstered in tartan and carved with scrolls and foliage, sold for £1,800. 'Northern Pride', a study of a racing pigeon after William Andrew Beer, sold for £750. A raku-fired goose by studio potter Lawson E. Rudge sold for £320.

View the full sale results.

Fine Paintings

Friday, 11 September 2026 | 11:00

Two paintings shared the top spot at £4,000. The first was Robert Gemmell Hutchison's 'Royal Review Edinburgh, 1905', most likely the preparatory sketch for a larger version that sold at Bonhams in 2010 for £18,000. The second was Ernest Higgins Rigg's tender portrait of the artist's daughters petting spring lambs. Fellow Staithes Group painter Owen Bowen's 'Cattle Resting in Summer Shade' sold for £3,200.

John Holland Snr's 'Watergate, Chester' sold for £3,000. One small detail in the painting helps date it. In the street, a man wears a sandwich board advertising a panorama of the war between France and Prussia, a popular Victorian travelling show. That places the painting around 1870 to 1872.

View the full sale results.


Small Details, Big Stories

September showed how much a single detail can tell you, whether it was a sandwich board in a street scene, a link to a Bonhams sale or an artist's own notes on a silver vessel. Items like these are often sitting quietly in homes across Yorkshire. If you have something you are thinking of selling, we would be glad to take a look. Get in touch for a free valuation today.

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