Gold Horse Brooch Gallops to £26,000

Wimbledon Auctions held their monthly sale of 'Arts and Antiques' on the 22nd May 2023. Amongst the usual paintings, furniture and natural history was an intriguing private collection of jewellery and gold articles. Consigned locally from a private vendor, these items had once been the possession of a highly distinguished and titled lady. The highlight of this collection was a brooch, exquisitely figured in the form of a horses head and crop. Crafted using an impressively large and unusually shaped baroque pearl, mounted in high carat gold and studded with rose diamonds. The provenance was immaculate, with the brooch having been catalogued, photographed and valued in an insurance valuation by Garrard and Co in 1963 for £85. 

Auctioneer Felix Turner provided a conservative pre-sale estimate for the brooch of £800-1200. Almost as soon as the catalogue had been listed online, Wimbledon Auctions received an astonishing amount of pre-sale interest from both private collectors and people in the trade. Four telephone lines were booked on the morning of the sale, and bidding began online at £2,600. The bids quickly rose beyond £10,000, with telephone bidders fiercely contesting against one another and an exceptionally keen internet bidder. Soon the bids had risen to £25,000.   

At this point, the internet bidder bowed out and the hammer fell with a telephone buyer at £26,000.