Yorkshire antiques and fine art auctioneer David Duggleby has opened the doors on a new branch office in Harrogate.
The firm operates salerooms in Scarborough and York, and has taken an office at 5 Raglan Street in a Victorian building overlooking Princes Square in the town centre.
Melanie Saleem, a jewellery specialist, has been recruited to manage the new operation that will see the advice of experts in dozens of different fields of antiques and collecting available in an ongoing schedule of valuation days and events.
Managing Director Will Duggleby said:
We’ve been looking at having a presence in Harrogate for a while, so we’re delighted that everything has come together – the right office, in the right place, at the right time for the business – and with the right person available to run it.
Melanie Saleem is a talented gemmologist, a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain, who has headed up the jewellery departments of several auction firms around the country. Her recruitment also adds additional resource to our jewellery department, one of the busiest teams in the firm.
The Harrogate branch will provide a full service to the area, the office open each weekday with the exception of Wednesdays, which are to be reserved for off-site appointments and valuation visits. The office will have an extensive schedule of specialist valuation days covering every field of antiques and collecting.
Anybody can bring anything in to get it assessed and valued. Valuations and advice are free of charge, part of the service that the office provides.
Sometimes people bring in family heirlooms that they simply want to learn more about. Others may want to know if an antique or collectable is worth selling. And there are of course occasions when people have absolutely no idea that they have something rather special – in which case the valuation can come as something of a shock.
Melanie’s field, jewellery, is one that constantly turns up surprises. She recently saved a lady who was about to take what she thought was a piece of costume jewellery to a charity shop. Melanie identified the brooch . . . semi-precious stones set in silver . . . as a piece made by Dorrie Nossiter (1893-1977), a Birmingham jeweller famed for her pre-war designs in the arts and crafts style. That made several hundred pounds at auction.
Another of Melanie’s finds was a ring in a box of costume jewellery, again on its way to a charity shop. She recognised that it was 18 carat gold and made in the ‘whiplash’ style that was popular in the early arts and crafts period. The designer was Archibald Knox (1864-1933) an artist of huge importance in the Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Celtic Revival movements. That sold for £2,000.
It just does all highlight how worthwhile it can be to get things checked out before they’re given away or thrown out.
Items consigned for sale at Harrogate will be directed into the one of the firm’s extensive range of specialist auctions that are pro-actively marketed to buyers around the world to achieve maximum results.
Harrogate Valuation Office details and schedule are available at the firm’s website www.davidduggleby.com
