Friday 20 May 2011

These times may be subject to alteration owing to regional holidays or auction viewing days.
You are advised to call the relevant office prior to travelling to check on opening times.

Head Office & Galleries
Meiklewood Gate
31 Meiklewood Road
Glasgow
G51 4EU

Tel:
+44(0)141 810 2880
Fax:
+44(0)141 883 9920
Email:
enquiries@mctears.co.uk

Regional Office for Renfrewshire
22 Forsyth Street
Greenock
PA16 8DX

Tel:
+44(0)1475 730343
Fax:
+44(0)1475 726436
Email:
greenock@mctears.co.uk

http://www.mctears.co.uk/

Contact outwith office hours - 07767 376642 

Asian Works of Art

The Asian Works of Art department deals with a wide range of ceramics and works of art from around Asia. Every week several lots of ceramics, glass and works of art from Asia come up for auction in Home Contents auctions, whereas the finer and rarer examples appear in the monthly fine art & antiques and specialist auctions.



The Cost

The commission charged is 15% of the hammer price, no charge is made for insurance. For items that are entered into internationally marketed specialist and antiques auctions, an lotting charge of just £3/5 is made per lot and that includes a professionally taken photograph. Every lot sold at McTear’s is subject to a minimum commission of £4 per lot. If items are to be collected by our removers, a collection cost will be involved that will be dependent on the time taken. All costs are subject to VAT.

*The No Commission offer applies only to certain auctions. Ask for details.

If you have any questions about selling at McTear’s please contact Michelle Henderson, email michelle@mctears.co.uk or call 0141 810 2880.

http://www.mctears.co.uk/

Why Sell at Auction?


There can be no better place to sell your antique, artwork or collectable than at auction. Although an offer received on a one-to-one basis may be seem fair, the open competition at an auction can often see expected prices exceeded. Also, the marketplace offered when selling at McTear's monthly fine sales is international, with the sales run concurrently live online.

http://www.mctears.co.uk/selling/

McTears Coffee House


McTear's Coffee House is now open with a great value and new improved menu of fresh Italian Coffees and made-to-order sandwiches, paninis, toasties, rolls and baked potatoes.

The Coffee House is open every day from Monday to Friday and on Saturday auction days, menu and details to the left.

All our great value coffees are made with freshly ground Lucaffe coffee beans and are available to sit in or take away. All coffees are also available decaffeinated.


Opening Hours

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 11.30am till 2pm
Thursday and Friday all day from 9am
Saturday (auction days only) all day from 9am

McTears Valuation Days


Valuation Days are held at the Auction Galleries every weekday between 9am & 5pm and on Saturdays from 9.30am till 12 noon (without appointment) for Silver & Jewellery, Ceramics & Glass, Pictures, Furniture, Collectors Items, Coins, Medals & Militaria, Decorative Arts, Wine & Whisky. If you wish to see a particular specialist we would recommend calling to arrange an appointment.

For advice on larger pieces of furniture or collections to arrange a confidential home visit please contact our Head Office on 0141 810 2880, or use our Contact Us page.

McTear's holds regular Valuation Days around the country, details are shown below. Valuation Days in the Islands are held from time to time, please contact us for details.

To arrange for a valuer to drop in and offer free confidential auction advice on the days shown, or on another day more suitable, please contact our Head Office on 0141 810 2880, or use our Contact Us page.


Monday Stirling, Angus, Perth & Kinross
Tuesday Aberdeenshire, Moray & Highlands
Wednesday West of Glasgow including Greenock & North Ayrshire
Thursday South Ayrshire, Dumfries & Galloway, Scottish Borders and North of England
Friday Dunbartonshire, Argyll and Bute         

Thursday 19 May 2011

McTear's textit



The Simplest Way to have your antiques & collectables valued.

  1. Photograph the object you wish to have valued using your mobile phone camera.
  2. Text the word ‘value’ along with the photo to 88600
  3. We will text you back with an estimated valuation of your object...simple and free!*

Find out more at http://www.mctears.co.uk/

McTear's Findit

About McTear's FindIt

McTear’s FindIt service is a search engine within McTear's website that allows you to record your interest in particular items by entering key words. You can save as many interests as you like.

For example, if you are interested in buying a diamond brooch, simply enter the words diamond and brooch as an Interest and you will receive an automatic lot alert as soon as a catalogue is published containing a lot with those key words.

You can be as specific as you wish, though if you are too specific you may miss out on a lot that possibly could have interested you. On the other hand, if you are not in any way specific and use for example chair as a keyword (rather than art nouveau chair), you can expect to get a lot of emails from us!

Remember when searching that you require to submit words that would appear in any lot description, rather than the category. As an example, if you entered picture or whisky as an Interest, these would generate no relevant response, though if you are interested in buying whisky, being more specific by using Bowmore or Macallan as examples would see auction alerts being sent to you. If searching for pictures by a particular artist simply enter that artist’s name as an Interest.

Either way, you may login and alter your account to suit yourself at any time.

Find out more at http://www.mctears.co.uk/

Sell GOLD at McTear's for Free



With the price of gold at its highest in decades, there has
never been a better time for you to sell gold and gold coins.

Our dedicated jewellery, coins and watches sales are marketed andsold to an international audience with our unique McTear’s Live!
online bidding system. We achieve high prices for:
  • Krugerrands
  • Sovereigns and half sovereigns
  • American dollar coins
  • Commemorative coins


Gold coins are sold commission free until 31st August 2011.
Find out more at http://www.mctears.co.uk/

Tuesday 10 May 2011

The Finest Elizabeth Blackadder Ever To Be Offered At Auction ?

ELIZABETH VIOLET BLACKADDER D.B.E., R.A., R.S.A., R.S.W., R.G.I., D.LITT (SCOTTISH B.1931)
Coco and Orchid
pencil and watercolour, signed and dated 1981
22 ½ x 29 ¾ inches

Auction Date: Thursday 12th May (at 6pm)

estimate £8,000-12,000
Dame Elizabeth Blackadder is one of the most celebrated and respected artists of her generation and is the first woman to be elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy. She was appointed an OBE in 1982, promoted to DBE in 2003 and in 2001 she was appointed Her Majesty’s Painter and Limner in Scotland – the first woman to be appointed in the 300 year history of the office. She has been awarded honorary doctorates by four universities.

In 1956 Blackadder married the painter, John Houston and started producing the still lifes with which her name is most readily associated. Her first solo exhibition was held in 1959 at the 57 Gallery in Edinburgh. Since then, national and international solo exhibitions of her work have been held almost every year. She has also participated extensively in group exhibitions in Britain, Canada, Germany, USA, Japan, Brazil, Australia and Russia. This year’s major summer exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery will be devoted to the art of Dame Elizabeth Blackadder, organised in honour of the artist’s 80th birthday (2nd July – 2nd January 2012).

“Coco and Orchid” is a truly exceptional example of Elizabeth Blackadder’s work and must rank as one of the finest ever to be offered at auction.

Provenance : Sold at Mercury Gallery (London) in 1982. The backboard retains a full set of gallery labels confirming artist, title, dates, sizes and original gallery price. Private London collection.
Find out more at http://www.mctears.co.uk/

 

Landmark Howson Masterpiece – to sell on 12th May at McTear's

In 1986 Peter Howson worked from a studio in the Gallowgate area of Glasgow, close to a hostel for the homeless. The characters he encountered captured his imagination and he produced a famous series of works (The Noble Dosser, The Heroic Dosser and The Leaning Dosser) which also spawned a series of woodcuts or screenprints. These portrayals of Glasgow's down-and-outs and working class macho culture amidst the industrialised wasteland of Clydeside gained him a vast amount of public and media attention both in the UK and internationally.


The Noble Dosser was a landmark painting for Howson and remains one of his most memorable and best known images largely through the woodcut version, one of which is features in The Tate (London) collection. However, the original painting has not been publicly exhibited for 25 years and it has never before been offered at auction. The Noble Dosser was acquired in 1986 and has remained in the same private Glasgow collection ever since.



McTear’s has sold several highly significant Peter Howson works over the last few years including “Blood Brothers”, “Faith, Hope & Charity”, “Madonna and Guy” and “The Sisters of Mercy” but there’s little doubt that The Noble Dosser is the most important Peter Howson we’ve ever offered.





The Noble Dosser will be included in the auction of Fine, Scottish & Contemporary Pictures on 12 May and the catalogue for the auction will be online here from Friday 29 April.

Lavery's "Woman In An Arab Headdress" arrives at McTear's for May auction.....

Lot 1309
SIR JOHN LAVERY RA RSA RP RHA HROI (1856 -- 1941)
Woman in an Arab Headdress
Oil on canvas, signed and dated 1882
40.5cm x 30.5cm
Provenance : Private Irish collection.
Born in Belfast, but soon orphaned, Lavery spent his early years on his uncle's farm. At the age of ten, more family problems led to his relocation to Scotland where he attended the Haldane Academy in Glasgow. Afterwards he worked as an apprentice photographer and, from this experience he developed an ambition to become a portrait painter. He travelled to Paris in 1881, where he studied drawing at the Academie Julian and fine art painting at Colarossi's studio. In 1883, he spent time at the artists' colony of Grez-sur-Loing, and made friends with the older Irish artist Frank O'Meara as well as the French painter Jules Bastien-Lepage, both of whom influenced his painting. In 1883 he exhibited his first French landscape, “Les Deux Pecheurs”.
“Woman In An Arab Headdress” is an early work by Lavery produced when he is known to have painted head studies from costumed models in atelier Colarossi in Paris. A small number of these have survived and they reveal the rapid development of Lavery’s skill – particularly during the years 1881-2.

This Lavery portrait will be sold at McTear's Fine, Scottish & Contemporary Picture auction on 12 May
Find out more at http://www.mctears.co.uk/

Sir James Guthrie

Sir James Guthrie, one of the Glasgow Boys
Although now famous for being one of the Glasgow Boys, James Guthrie did not originally intend to be an artist.

Being born in Greenock, the youngest son of the Rev.John Guthrie, a clergyman, and Ann Orr, Guthrie Jr. enrolled at Glasgow University to study law, but abandoned this in favour of painting in 1877. Unlike many of his contemporaries he did not study in Paris, being mostly self-taught, although he was mentored for a short time by James Drummond in Glasgow and then by the Scottish artist John Pettie in London.

This rare portrait will be offered on 12th May, estimated £8,000 - £12,000
Lot 1390
Find out more at http://www.mctears.co.uk/

Murano glass by Sergio Rossi & Stefano Tosso

Glass has been manufactured on the Venetian island of Murano for approximately one thousand years. The industry’s most important figures were considered to be some of Venice’s most important citizens. Today there are still a large number of glass making factories in Venice making items of glassware including decorative sculptures. A large amount of the items that are sold at auction today are those that were manufactured in the 1950s and 1960s.




The manufacturing process of Murano glass is quite complex. The process is called lampworking and relies on the stage at which the glass is between a liquid and a solid. It is at this point that the glassmaker can manipulate the glass into the desired design.
Today the Murano glass industry is a huge tourist attraction and items are produced for worldwide export. McTear’s is selling two Murano glass sculptures that have been designed by Sergio Rossi and Stefano Tosso in our 12th May ceramics sale.


Images are lots 1135 and 1136.
Find out more at http://www.mctears.co.uk/

Jacques Lacloche art deco bracelet

Maison Lacloche Frères was a business set up and owned by three brothers originally from Madrid. Moving to Paris at the turn of the 19th century, the brothers set up a series of jewellery shops there and on New Bond street in London in 1912.

During WWI Maison Lacloche bought the shop owned by Faberge and their remaining stock. The firm designed and made a variety of items including bracelets, brooches, clips and rings all of the Modernist Art Deco aesthetic.

On May 11th McTear’s are selling an outstanding example of the company’s designs, an art deco sapphire and diamond bracelet set in platinum with diamonds totalling approximately 10.0 carats.

Find out more at http://www.mctears.co.uk/

HELP MA BOAB! Graham McKean's Oor Wullie appears at auction

One of Scotland’s most successful artists has painted the iconic Sunday Post cartoon character “Oor Wullie” and according to D.C. Thomson the publishers of the Sunday Post, it’s the very first time he’s ever been depicted in a fine art painting. Indeed, The Sunday Post has shown huge enthusiasm for Graham McKean’s stunning painting and has featured it in an article on page 12 of today's edition (Sunday 8th May) of the publication.


The Ayrshire artist has produced paintings which have sold for well over £15,000 and his work has featured in some of London’s most prestigious contemporary galleries. Graham has also won a considerable number of high value commissions over the years including one from Celtic FC to depict The Lisbon Lions.


The oil on canvas is titled “Oor Wullie, Your Wullie, A Holiday Wullie” and is lot 1357 in the McTear's Fine And Contemporary Pictures sale on Thursday 12th May starting at 6.00 pm. It’s one of sixteen works by Graham McKean in the sale including several of his hugely popular pencil drawings.


McTear’s Director Brian Clements comments "Graham is one of Scotland’s most recognisable artists – nobody else paints or draws like Graham. We love his work and so do our buyers, worldwide.
He’s unquestionably one of our best selling artists and just as importantly, he’s a genuinely good guy.
Graham has never refused a request from me for something to sell at a charity dinner and he invariably gifts a much more valuable painting than we might usually expect. Over the years numerous charities have benefited substantially from Graham’s kindness and generosity. It’s always great to have his work involved in our auctions
."
Click here to view the lot details