Bidders thirst for Art Deco cocktail shaker – Antique Collecting

Art Deco proved its enduring popularity with the sale of two of the coolest lots in The Cotswold Auction Company’s recent sale of Toys, Antiques and Interiors.

A 1930s silver-plated Art Deco cocktail shaker – designed by Keith Murray and branded Mappin and Webb – sold for a hammer of £380.

However, the undoubted star of the sale was a French Art Deco walnut veneered chest of drawers, which hammered down at £2,200.

Toys were also popular, with a large group of Britains toy soldiers selling for £1,550. Elsewhere, a Victorian papier-mache bulldog automaton – complete with nodding head and original growling mechanism – sold for over its estimate of £300 to £500, going under the hammer at £850. It is thought to have been made between 1890 and 1910 by the French automaton company Roullet and Decamps.

Auctioneer Lindsey Braune said: “Art Deco is always popular at auction. The chest of drawers was a fabulously chic example of home furnishings from the period. Vintage cocktail shakers are also in fashion at the moment and this Art Deco example was particularly stylish.”