20/12/2025 General News
Christmas is traditionally a time to stand back and draw breath in the auction world, and after I put down my gavel at the end of our annual Christmas Poultry Sale (now in its 73rd consecutive year), I always enjoy reflecting on the previous 12 months in the saleroom, writes Tim Blyth.
The bare statistics are staggering. In 2025, we saw 56,801 lots go under the hammer in 122 separate auctions, from our popular weekly Monday morning sales right through to our three Fine Sales, when the eyes of collectors from all over the world turn on Aylsham.
From all those many lots, here are just seven of my highlights from the year
The lot which made the most headlines this year was a small pencil drawing which had come to us from the family of a deceased collector. Our research identified the picture as a study by 19th century artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82) for a larger pen and ink drawing which he created during 1858-9. That work, Mary Magdalene at the door of Simon the Pharisee, is now displayed in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
The picture attracted a range of bidders in the room, on the phone and on the internet, and they entered into a keen contest – at the end of which the hammer fell at £26,900
Our autumn Fine Sale saw a large 19th century marble statue of Hercules go under the hammer. It was an impressive piece which stood over six feet including its plinth. The pre-sale estimate was £8,000-£12,000; the winning bid was £20,000.
Keys is one of a relatively small number of provincial auction houses with a specialist Books department, and our bi-monthly Books and Ephemera Sales often run to over 1,000 lots. The highlight in 2025 was a 1937 first edition of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Despite lacking its dustjacket, and with some signs of wear, it sold for £12,000.
2025 saw the continued resurgence in the furniture market. Oak has been particularly popular this year, and we were fortunate to be able to offer a good number of pieces by Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson, a Yorkshire maker who adorned every piece he made with a small carved mouse. Top price paid during the year was for an oak sideboard, which sold for £6,100.
Keys is one of the most important places collectors come to bid for Lowestoft porcelain; we offer pieces from the Suffolk factory in sales throughout the year. One which elicited a particularly fierce bidding war was an important documentary coffee pot and cover in our spring Fine Sale. The hammer came down at £4,900.
Our specialist Watches department has had a busy year, with vintage timepieces being in particular demand. It has been encouraging to see the market return for pocket watches, but wristwatches still rule supreme. Top seller during the year was a Patek Philippe Calatrava watch dating from 1945, which went for £13,100.
Finally, lots with a story behind them are always top sellers, and there were plenty of these during the year. Perhaps the most interesting was a silk playbill advertising the opening of the Arctic Theatre Royal on 23rd November 1852.
This came about after HMS Resolute became stuck in the ice while searching for the famed Northwest Passage and was forced to spend the winter in the Arctic. To amuse themselves, the sailors set up a theatre on Melville Island, and as they happened to have a printing press on board, created this playbill as if it were a real theatre. It sold for £4,400.
We will be back in 2026 to do it all again; happy new year!