Sale Highlights

David E lives on the Falkland Islands. On occasion he travels to the UK to visit his family in Plymouth. On a recent visit he noticed in the local paper that Plymouth Auction Rooms had sold some Rolex watches which achieved great prices. He made some enquiries with us, and on his next visit brought over his 1969/1970 Rolex Gents Stainless Steel Submariner, Model 5513. We met with David and Julie where we valued the watch and inspected it more. He had the original box, Rolex booklet, anchor, wallet, and stock tags marked '2014717, £47.14'. David also gave us some more history on the watch, which was purchased in 1970 on the Falkland Islands.

'I went to the Falkland Islands as a Travelling Teacher in August 1970, I was given a £50 clothing allowance, but on arrival in the Islands I visited the FALKLAND ISLANDS COMPANY Store and decided to buy the Rolex Watch instead. If only I had £250 I could have brought the Gold Rolex which was also on display! I have worn it, but not very often, for the last 40+ years it has been in its box' - David E.

After meeting with us, he consigned it to our upcoming Specialist Watches Auction. And he was delighted when it raised an impressive £11,100 (incl. Buyers Premium).

A George III rare coin sold as part The Evans Harvery collection of gold pattern coins, one of the most important coin sales outside of London in recent years, discovered in a Plymouth home and sold at Plymouth Auction Rooms.

A beautiful antique emerald, diamond and pearl necklace set with ten octagon cut emeralds sizes ranging from 4.3mm x 3.25mm to 7.25mm x 600mm, seven baroque pearls and six freshwater pearls. Two 12cm foliate sections with two bow-shaped sections on either side of central openwork cartouche. All sections pave set with diamonds, total length 40cm, assessed silver front with gold backing, fitted in a brown velvet lined hinged case embossed Christmas 1909, considered to be of French origin.

Derek Holland (1927-2014) mural, oil on board, 1962 'Tamar Bridge' in three sections, each panel 183 x 122 (six by four feet). Provenance - In Britain's socialist post-war years, there was a determined cultural policy of taking art to the provinces and enabling large scale public artworks. Many of Britain's well-known artists such as Henry Moore, Victor Pasmore and John Piper were commissioned to create new works. In 1962 London's Victoria and Albert Museum staged an exhibition titled Mural Painting Today. Included in that exhibition was a three-panel work of the Tamar Bridge by Derek Holland. Holland had recently moved to Plymouth from London where he had studied and taught at the famous Central School of Arts and Crafts to take up a new position as Head of Fine Art at Plymouth College. His early abstract paintings were then a regular feature at London's Redfern Gallery alongside many of the famous names of British and European Art. He was selected in 1961 for an exhibition of British Art in Venice chosen by Peggy Guggenheim. Later Holland changed direction and became better known for his French landscapes which were exhibited at a solo exhibition at Plymouth Museum in the 1980s and The Newlyn Society of Artists in Penzance where he was a long-time member with his good friend Sir Terry Frost. This triptych has not been seen or exhibited since the V&A exhibition over 50 years ago. Derek Holland passed away in 2014. He was described by Turner-Prize winning sculptor Richard Deacon RA, his former pupil at Plymouth College, as 'a wonderful painter'.