Henry Aldridge & Son

The Devizes Auctioneers

Christmas Comes Early in Devizes Auction

On November 24th Henry Aldridge & Son, the Devizes Auctioneers held an auction of Antiques and Collectors Items, this was the last Antique and Collectors sale of 2001 This year has seen the auctioneers have their most successful year since their formation by Alan Aldridge in 1989.

The star of the show was the world's first Christmas card. Publicity for the card came from all over the world from as far afield as New Zealand and Russia.

The card was commissioned by Henry Cole, prominent member of Victorian society, personal friend of Prince Albert and collaborator on the design of the Penny Black decided to design a greetings card to send at Christmas. This simple idea from the Bath born businessman was the start of the world-wide phenomenon that we have today. More than one hundred and fifty years later the Royal Mail handle up to 150,000,000 items each day in the run up to Christmas.

The typical robins and nativity scenes of today's Christmas cards are not evident on the Cole Card, instead it shows a typical Victorian Christmas with a family enjoying the festivities around the dinner table with the sides of the card depicting charitable acts such as feeding the hungry and needy. Henry Cole commissioned the first card from London artist John Horsley and one thousand were lithographed and sold for one shilling each, around one weeks wages for the average man.

Interest in the card prior to saleday was evident from all over the globe but principally from bidders in the USA and Great Britain. There were a number of four figure bids left with the auctioneers but two telephone bidders entered the fray and the hammer finally came down at a world record sum of £22350, beating the previous record for a card of £14000, held by a major London saleroom.

Andrew Aldridge BA Hons MRICS said after the sale "The key to achieving this staggering price was the contacts the Henry Aldridge & Son have built with the national media and specialist collectors alike. This enabled us to inform the right people about the sale of the christmas card and have them compete for ownership of the item".

This is the sixth world record that Henry Aldridge & Son hold for the sale of a specialist item at auction, already enhancing the Devizes auctioneers growing reputation in the sale of Antiques and Collectors items.

The card was not the only lot on offer in the Bath Road salerooms, over 300 other lots of Antiques and Collectors Items were on show including entries from all over the South West of England. A solid furniture and clock selection was led by a 8 day Longcase clock made in Bath in the 1830's which sold for a top estimate £2600, two 19th century Loo tables one made in Rosewood the other Mahogany for £1000 each, a pleasant 19th century mahogany hanging cupboard bought by the Midlands trade for £700 and a 19th century glazed bookcase for £900.

Collector's items attracted a similar amount of interest with a very distressed Tortoiseshell Tea Caddy selling for a top estimate £1500. The auctioneers were particularly pleased with this lot as the vendor was going the consign it to a charity shop before being advised otherwise by the auctioneers.

If you are considering auctioning any Antique Furniture, Clocks, Ceramics, Paintings, Silver, Jewellery or Collectors items please call either Alan Aldridge or Andrew Aldridge BA Hons MRICS for free specialist advice on 01380 729199 or 01380 720900.