A Collection Inspired by The Natural World

Emma Faull – Snipe in reeds, watercolour on a gold ground

The things that we collect so often reflect our lives and interests. This is true of the collection of the connoisseur and patron, the late Frank Warren, who lived near Horsham. A gentleman, amateur naturalist and sportsman, his collection of art and his library reflect his deep love of nature and the countryside and are to be auctioned at Toovey’s.

A man of broad interests with a knowledge, care and excitement for the world in which he lived the collection reflects his outward facing, generous nature.
The paintings are from an established group of contemporary realist artists who are once again returning to the British tradition of recording the world and nature. Many of the paintings in the collection are by Michael Jevon, as well as Rodger McPhail, George Lodge and Emma Faull, artists who this private collector counted as friends. He enjoyed the quality of patronage when buying work from these contemporary, realist artists. They depict birds, wildlife, and the countryside.

Painted in watercolour on a gold ground the beautiful study of Snipe in reeds is by Emma Faull. There is an accuracy and life to her work which defines her painting. Emma works with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey and is a passionate conservationists. Her art is represented in permanent collections such as the Audubon Society in the USA and collectors of her work include HM the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Six limited edition, leather bound volumes on British sporting game birds and wildfowl, illustrated and published by Richard Robjent

The book department is one of my favourite rooms at Toovey’s; a library where the volumes are constantly changing. I catch up with Toovey’s book specialists, Charlie Howe, who is busy cataloguing and ask him about the books in the collection. He says “It’s notable to see that all these books are in very fine condition – he obviously was a genuine collector with wide and varied interests.

There’s literature and poetry, fine bindings of Shelley and Keats, all sitting alongside a strong collection of books on hunting and natural history.”
Six beautifully bound volumes in slip cases catch my eye. Charlie explains that the volumes are limited editions, bound in leather with tipped in illustrated plates by the artist and publisher, Richard Robjent. They cover all the sporting game birds and wildfowl of the British Isles and were published by Fine Sporting Interests. The volume ‘The Partridge – Studies in Words and Pictures’ includes a foreword by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.

Charlie continues “Frank had a keen interest in travel too. There’s a first edition of Bruce Chatwin’s ‘In Patagonia’, as well as a scarce first printing of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s ‘A Time to keep silence’. There are many other rare volumes.

Estimates range from under £100 to the low thousands. This beautiful collection reflecting the interests of a country gentleman and connoisseur will be auctioned in Toovey’s Fine Art sale on Wednesday 23rd June and the Antiquarian and Collectors Books sale on Wednesday 21st July 2021.

1948 Olympic Torch for Sale at Auction

The 1948 London Olympic Torch offered on 13th July in Toovey's Auction

A topical item has been consigned for auction at Toovey’s Sale of Collectors’ Items on Friday 13th July 2012.

The torch is Lot 2601 and is described as a London Olympics 1948 aluminium relay torch, the bowl pierced with the trademark symbol of interlinking rings and inscribed ‘XIVth Olympiad 1948, Olympia to London, with thanks to the bearer’.

The 41cm high torch was designed by Ralph Lavers, specifically to house the tablet-form fuel that it would contain. It is documented that 1720 of these torches were produced for the relay from Greece to England, allowing enough for those to be used for demonstrations, trials and spares.

This particular torch was given to the current vendor by a relative who was employed at management level by H.M.V. at their Hayes factory. To add to this provenance, H.M.V.’s parent company, E.M.I., produced the torch at their Hayes factory. Presumably, this was an ex-demonstration or trial model.  For some fourteen years the torch hung above the bar of The White Horse public house in Graffham near Petworth, West Sussex.  At some stage the torch has been converted to a wall light, having a drill hole to the stem and a bulb attachment to the interior.  This has been reflected in the £1000-2000 pre-sale estimate. Whether this modification will actually affect the final selling price will only become clear on July 13th at Toovey’s Spring Gardens auction house.

Brighton & Hove Albion Football Paper Collectables

Lot 3050: Brighton & Hove Albion Football Postcards
Lot 3205: Brighton & Hove Albion Football Programmes

Other than antiques, fine art and collectors’ items, one of the main topics of discussion in Toovey’s Sussex saleroom is football. With the performances, refereeing decisions, goals, managers, saves, fouls, form and transfers often debated, the saleroom has on occasions transformed into an arena of football punditry. Who will be managing England at the 2012 European Championships seems to be a current hot topic of conversation. It would appear that the forthcoming summer of football and the millions wasted on strikers who can’t find the net in the Premiership seem to be overshadowing the mighty performances of one of our local teams, Brighton & Hove Albion. The Seagulls were newly promoted into the Championship this season and appear to have settled into their much-awaited new home at the AMEX stadium.

The East Sussex team were founded in 1901 and originally played in the Southern League, before being elected to the Football League in 1920. Arguably their greatest spell was in the 1980’s, whilst playing in the top division they had a cup-run that took them to Wembley in the F.A. Cup where they played Manchester United, losing after a replay. The forthcoming sale of Paper Collectables on Tuesday 17th April includes Lot 3205, a large collection of football programmes mostly relating to Brighton and Hove Albion. Included in the lot is a series of programmes that follow the cup run of the 1982/83 season, including the semi-final, final and replay, these three all have the original ticket stubs for the matches included (see illustration, click for an enlarged image and again for further magnification), the lot carries a presale estimate of £100-150.

In the Postcard section of the same specialist sale is Lot 3050 (see illustration, click for an enlarged image and again for further magnification). This lot comprises a group of 10 photographic postcards of crowd scenes at the football matches of Brighton and Hove Albion. Dating from 1910 to circa 1929, the majority of the cards were published by the Hove-based photographer Thomas Walter Stephen Wiles, later Deane, Wiles & Millar, or the Brighton Camera Exchange. The postcards show a different era of football, the anonymous faces looking out are dressed in their Sunday best at a time when financial investment in the sport was considerably different.   It was also a different era for the Seagulls as these were taken at their former home, the Goldstone Ground. Amongst the supporters and collectors these postcards are always sought after, particularly those featuring cup-runs (as some of these do) or those against rival clubs. This lot carries the presale estimate of £50-80 and is offered alongside Stamps, other Postcards, Cigarette Cards, Autographs, Photographs and Printed and Manuscript Ephemera in Toovey’s Sale of Paper Collectables on the 17th April 2012. For viewing times for the auction please click here.

Under manager Gus Poyet, Brighton and Hove Albion are currently competing for a Play-off place in the Championship, and in the absence of any Crystal Palace supporters at Toovey’s, we wish them the very best of luck!