News

Since the beginning of the current pandemic, David Stanley’s auctions of antique and modern woodworking tools, and tools from allied trades, have had to be remote affairs. Gone are the thrills of bidding in person in a crowded room; gone the dealers’ stalls and friendly chitchat among enthusiasts. At least buyers are given an opportunity on each occasion to view and handle items by appointment at the auctioneers’ offices at Osgathorpe in Leicestershire in the fortnight before the sale.

999 lots

For the auction held on 24 September 2020, the sale room was once again deserted, but as the gavel came down, its sharp decisive taps could be heard on computers all around the world. This was David Stanley’s third live auction in which bidding was conducted wholly online, on the telephone or by sending written instructions beforehand.

For the 999 lots in the sale, bidding was keen, reflecting an unwavering interest in high-quality tools both old and new among collectors and craftsman. The star of the show was not a woodworking tool but an early gauger’s slide rule in ivory (lot 982) that reached a staggering price of £11,000 plus 15% buyer’s premium.

Rare lots

Only seldom do turning lathes appear at auction. This time there were three, two treadle lathes by the great Victorian maker Holtzapffel (lots 984 and 985) and an unused, unassembled electric wood lathe, a 01940 by SIP Ltd (lot 241). Lot 984 had originally been bought for £70 by the young John Edgerton Cust, 2nd Earl Brownlow, in 1863 as one with a 5-inch screw mandrel; but sadly his use of it was rather limited, for he died soon afterwards in 1867. It was not unusual for an aristocrat to own a lathe. The 3rd Duke of Leinster at Carton House in Co. Kildare had one in his “office” in 1818. Brownlow’s lathe with numerous attachments fetched £2,500, the third highest price in the sale, and the SIP lathe sold for £440. A fine kit of ornamental lathe tools (lot 989) by Edward Hines of Norwich, stored in a later oak case, fetched £600.

Plentiful planes

Planes were as plentiful as ever, with a wide variety of models from many of the best-known makers in Britain and the United States. One of the earliest, however, was an anonymous early continental musical-instrument maker’s mitre plane in iron with scrolling tote (lot 939). This plane, with its iron bedded at a low-angle pitch and its thick sole standing proud on the sides, went under the hammer for £500. Planes by T. Norris & Son, the premier London makers of the early twentieth century, scored well. An A27 steel-soled, gunmetal bullnose plane (lot 999) with its original snecked iron and ebony wedge went for £4,200. On the other hand, two A1 planes aroused keen interest with the earlier 16½-inch plane (lot 994) fetching £1,300, and the later 20½-inch model (lot 996), probably unused, selling for £600. Mint condition planes by other makers also did well, notably three built by the Sutherland-based maker Karl Holtey. They were an A31 gunmetal thumb plane (lot 942), an A6 smoother in gunmetal (lot 943) and an adjustable No. 982 smoother in steel (lot 944). They fetched £1,500, £1,800 and £1,400 respectively. Among more accessibly priced modern planes there were three unused Lie-Nielsen planes on offer, with the firm’s No. 101 convex-soled palm plane (lot 830) finding a bidder for £400. A scarce, if not unique, dovetailed shoulder plane (lot 935) with Art Deco design by Spiers, the Scottish makers, went under the hammer for £1,200.

Nostalgic interest

Other tools did well also. The remarkable survival—virtually intact—of a display cabinet of pristine William Marples edge and boring tools (lot 794) from Colemans, the long-since defunct tool merchants in Coalville, aroused much nostalgic interest and sold for £2,500. Interestingly, there were also four Ultimatum brass-framed braces made by Marples up for sale; the best of these (lot 571) was knocked down for £250.
“Our online sales have been working very well,” commented David Stanley, “and future sales will be on the internet until it is safe to hold a live auction again that buyers can attend.”
Meanwhile, with 3,200sq.ft of new office and auction-room space available at Osgathorpe, customers will have physical auctions to look forward to there when health precautions allow.

For more information on David Stanley Auctions, call 01530 222 320 or click here.