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#TennantsAuction #FineJewellery #SilverLuxe #DiamondRing #LadyWalker #GoodrickeBaronet #HuntRoskell #OmegaSpeedmaster #SilverSnoopy #RacingHeritage #AntiqueAuction #BritishMuseum #CockerelCup #FemmeFormidable #November2026
Tennants Auctioneers will hold a Fine Jewellery, Watches & Silver sale in Leyburn on 14 November 2026, featuring a dispersal of property from Sharrone, Lady Walker of the Isle of Man, and the Walker baronets of Sand Hutton. A highlight is a marquise-cut diamond ring once belonging to Lady Walker, estimated at £30,000–£40,000 ($39,800–$53,000). The approximately six-carat stone has H/I colour and VVS1/VVS2 clarity, and the estimate excludes buyer’s premium. Tennants records the ring was given in the 1930s to Lady Walker’s mother-in-law, Synolda Emily née Thursby-Pelham, by a Dutch admirer during a period between marriages, and subsequently passed by descent. Lady Walker describes her mother-in-law as a “femme formidable” with a sense of humour.
Among the silver and jewellery, a pair of silver-gilt cups and covers by George Smith, London 1786, are estimated at £6,000–£9,000 ($8,000–$11,900); their engraved initials record the racehorses Stargazer and Dexter, and Tennants tentatively links them to Rev Henry Goodricke, brother of the sixth Goodricke baronet. Silver constitutes over 210 lots with a combined low estimate exceeding £250,000 ($331,300). The leading lot is a set of four dessert stands by John Samuel Hunt, London 1846, each topped by a seasonal figure, estimated at £30,000–£50,000 ($39,800–$66,300). Hunt, a partner in Hunt & Roskell—the firm descended from Paul Storr’s business and established in 1843—showed similar stands at the Great Exhibition of 1851, though those were a later separate group. A 1913 silver-gilt-mounted horn cup modelled as a cockerel and attributed to Sir Bache Cunard of the shipping family is estimated at £800–£1,200 ($1,100–$1,600), with Tennants noting Cunard made such pieces for family and friends. Nine lots from the Matrix Collection of Historic Hand Seals include a steel matrix bearing James II’s royal arms, dated c.1685, estimated at £3,000–£5,000 ($4,000–$6,600).
The watch section features a 1964 white-gold Omega Constellation with a “pie-pan” dial, estimated at £6,000–£8,000 ($8,000–$10,600), and a 2003 Omega Speedmaster “Eyes on the Stars”, one of 5,441 issued to commemorate Omega’s NASA Silver Snoopy Award, with a £7,000–£9,000 ($9,300–$11,900) estimate.
Mark Littler, editor-in-chief of Antique Collecting since 2026, spent nearly a decade as an auctioneer at Tennants in North Yorkshire, where he specialised in silver and whisky before founding Mark Littler Ltd, a firm advising on the valuation and sale of art, antiques, and rare whisky. A regular Forbes contributor, he also owns and edited The Whiskey Wash, which he led through a turnaround following its acquisition in 2023. His writing and media commentary are grounded in practical experience of valuing objects, researching collections, and navigating the auction market.
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