Auction round-up: Spring sparklers

Where to find the best selection of pre-owned fine jewellery and timepieces, plus other rare and sought-after lots, at auction in April

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(Image credit: © Lyon & Turnbull 2017)

Specialist regional auctioneers are the place to go if you're looking for covetable vintage jewellery and watches at relatively affordable prices. And they also have much to offer art and design investors too.

Bishop & Miller in Stowmarket, Suffolk, is holding a Jewellery & Watch Sale on 7April, where you'll find a number of pieces from luxury brands. Highlights include a highly collectable Heuer Camaro men's stainless steel watch (£1,000–1,500), as well as a stunning Cartier flower head diamond ring (£5,000–7,000).

On 12 April, Birmingham-based Fellows has one of its regular Antique & Modern Jewellery auctions, where featured lots include a striking Bulgari 'Serpenti Tubogas' bracelet watch (£4,000–5,000), a 1970s diamond pendant from Boucheron featuring two pave-set diamond concentric circles (£7,000–10,000), and an 18ct gold key pendant by Tiffany & Co. (£900–1,400).

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Fellows is also holding a Watch Sale this month. Key pieces in the 24 April auction include a Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Grand Taille men's wristwatch in 18ct rose gold (£7,500–8,500) and a Jaeger-LeCoultre limited-edition Master Control watch in platinum (£10,000–15,000).

Back to jewellery, and there's a Fine Jewellery & Watches auction taking place at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury on 26 April. Notable lots include an emerald and diamond-set gold flower head brooch by Van Cleef & Arpels (£10,000–15,000), and an Art Deco brooch by French designer Georges Fouquet, featuring three turquoise matrix cabochons (£20,000–30,000). The sale also includes an unusual piece from Audemars Piguet – a desktop version of its famous Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar watch, which comes with an estimate of £2,500–3,500.

Exquisite pieces aren't confined to the watches and jewellery category this month, with Edinburgh-based Lyon & Turnbull holding two art and design sales in April. First up is Decorative Arts: Design Since 1860 on 11 April, celebrating 15 decades of design and featuring among its lots a unique piece of design history – architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh's original ceremonial key (£20,000-30,000) that he used to open his Glasgow School of Art in 1899 and hasn't been seen in public since. Also up for sale are select pieces from High Sunderland in the Scottish Borders – architect Peter Womersley's 1956 house designed for textile designer Bernat Klein – such as a Berndt Friberg 1950s stoneware vase (pictured top, £2,000–3,000).

Then, on 18 April, there will be a Modern British & Contemporary Art auction, featuring work by the likes of Jankel Adler, John Bellany, Alan Davie and Christopher Wood, the latter's 1925 Man with Cards oil on canvas (£50,000–70,000) being a particular highlight.

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