Fine Art and Antique Auction 27th November

Our Fine Art and Antique Auction Catalogue is on-line and we are open for viewing on Saturday 23rd November 10am - 1pm, Tuesday 26th November 2pm - 6pm and on the morning of the Auction the doors open from 9am.

Charity Valuation Day a Success

Giles Hodges from Boldon Auction Galleries went along to a local charity in Sunderland last week to lend support for people with Niemann-Pick Disease. 

Niemann-Pick is a disease which finds sufferers having a build up of toxic materials in the body's cells caused by an enzyme deficiency.

There are three types of this disease:-
In Niemann-Pick Type A this accumulation occurs very quickly, an affected child will usually die before reaching three years of age.


Niemann-Pick Type B does not affect the brain and, although growth may be slow, those affected will survive into adolescence or early adulthood, with many being able to lead a full and normal life.
In Niemann-Pick Type C, the brain and other organs are affected, leading to progressive intellectual decline, loss of motor skills, seizures and dementia. Speech can become slurred and swallowing problems may develop. The rate at which the disease progresses varies greatly between patients; children who develop neurological symptoms in early childhood are thought to have a more aggressive form of the disease, others may remain symptom free for many years.

The Valuation Morning raised £70 for this very worthwhile cause.

A Bundle of Hummel !!

We have just finished cataloguing a large Private Collection of Hummel figures to be sold in our next Fine Art and Antique Auction on Wednesday 27th November.

The history of Hummel is a fascinating one taking us back to the 1930's and a German Nun called Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel who began drawing pastoral images of children. These drawings were in turn made into 'art cards' which became popular throughout Germany catching the eye of Franz Goebel who was at that time head of W. Goebel Porzellanfabrik. The Goebel factory acquired the rights to turn Sister Maria Innocentia's drawings into figurines and the first Hummel figures were produced in 1935. American soldiers stationed in West Germany at the end of World War II contributed to the increase in popularity of these figures in the United States by sending these nostalgic pieces home as presents.

Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel died in 1946 at the age of 37. Goebel together with his team of artists and a board of Sisters from the Convent where Sister Maria Innocentia had lived carried on her legacy until 2008 when the production of Hummel figures was discontinued.