Silke Lohman on a historic lime wood carving

With Sussex Craft Week fast approaching, it’s worth noting that auction houses are always interested in selling unusual, high-quality works made by craftspeople. You should keep information about the maker if you buy a piece, so that further down the line, if you decide to sell it, it may help an auctioneer to research the lot. Though ultimately, of course, sale prices come down to quality, trends and personal taste.

Auctions offer both contemporary craftworks, as well as pieces by significant craftsmen of the past. For example, in 2023 Bellman’s sold a small Charles II carved lime wood portrait plaque, attributed to the premier Baroque craftsman of his day, Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721) and his workshop, from c1680. His work can be found all over the UK, with The Carved Room in Petworth House displaying some of the finest examples of his exquisitely intricate wood carvings.

When the plaque was first offered to the auction house, the specialists did some research and managed to trace the provenance back to the house it was created for, Cassiobury House, in Watford. The piece had originally been estimated at £1,000-£1,500, but the hammer finally went down at £4,000.

There are often interesting hand-carved items in the Sussex auction houses, so keep an eye out. And the same goes for every genre of craft. We are particularly interested in a sale of a major collection of quilts currently under discussion. Watch this space…

Silke Lohman is a freelance art consultant at Bellman’s and Summers Place auction houses who has previously worked for Sotheby’s, New Bond Street. She is the founder of Exclamation PR.