Valuation Evening with Fieldings Auctioneers Ltd
Wed 28 June : 6.30 pm
This event has been postponed. A new date will be announced shortly.
Bring your antiques/curiosities with you as Will Farmer and a team of specialists from Fieldings Auctioneers are on hand in the Great Hall to value and advise you on them. Plus, enjoy an evening in the Bishop’s Palace as you explore the South Wing, listen to fascinating talks in the Chapel and wander down the Hurd Library as you discover its contents.
Talks include:
Dig Hartlebury – Find out about Hartlebury Castle’s Civil War connections and Dig Hartlebury’s upcoming archaeological dig on the site
Jim Parker – Discover the story of the Tickenhill Collection, which went on to be the foundation of Worcestershire County Museum
The Hurd Librarians – Discover the fascinating origins of the Hurd Library and its books.
Plus, take a stroll down the Hurd Library (normally only open to group visits) and chat to our Hurd Library volunteers.
This is a fundraising event for Hartlebury Castle Preservation Trust. All proceeds from the event will go towards preserving Hartlebury Castle, keeping its stories and alive and the Castle open for the future.
This event has been postponed. A new date will be announced shortly.
The Fieldings Team
Will Farmer
Director
Will’s love of antiques can be traced back to the tender age of just six months when he was taken to his first auction by his mum. Parked underneath the auctioneer’s rostrum in his Silver Cross pram he slept soundly and only cried on leaving the saleroom, a clear indication of a future career! His childhood was spent scouring auctions and antiques shops around Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire with his mum and gran with the weekend of hunting rounded off by settling down to watch the Antiques Roadshow before school the next day. Back then Will’s dream was to one day appear on the show, with something from his own collection…
Fast forward forty (or so) years and you’ll find a career auctioneer whose passion for ceramics, glass and 20th Century design goes well beyond the working day. A keen collector himself, Will’s idea of time off is, well… more of the same! Will is never happier than when searching out the things he loves, from Deco to Danish or Mid-Century to Modern! And the Roadshow dream… that came true back in 2004 when a chain of events led Will to be invited to join the Antiques Roadshow team as a specialist in ceramics, glass and 20th Century design.
What started out as a childhood interest has become a life’s passion and as Will always says, his job is his hobby and his hobby is his job! Even to the point that when he is being lowered into the ground, he would like the priest to say ‘going, going, gone’!
(https://fieldingsauctioneers.co.uk/staff/2/will-farmer)
Nick Davies
Consultant – Jewellery, watches and Silver
Birmingham born and bred, Nick has always been involved in the jewellery industry, starting his career in the Birmingham jewellery quarter after leaving school at the tender age of 16 years old. Some would say it was inevitable that a as a young lad with an interest in jewellery, there would be no other career for someone in Birmingham.
His auctioneering on the rostrum is notorious in the industry for making clients and buyers feel at ease, with his relaxed and inviting auctioneering style. He is never seen without his little cockapoo Isla who goes everywhere with him. You will also recognise him from Flog it! where he spent 10 years as a recent expert both off and on screen.
Nick and his family enjoy travelling and he has visited most countries with some adventures along the way! Most notable are staying in a Long House in Borneo with the Iban tribe for a week, going hunting with blow pipes, camping on a desert island off the coast of Belize in Central America and diving in the Blue Hole. Next trip Burma!
(https://fieldingsauctioneers.co.uk/staff/1/nick-davies)
Alison Snowdon
Ceramics specialist
Alison specialises in ceramics and textiles with a particular interest in design and decorative arts from 1880 to 1945. She graduated in 2006 with a BA Hons degree in Art History, and brings over ten years’ experience to Fieldings. Her most significant finds to date include a pair of 18th Century Limehouse sauceboats which sold at auction for £36,000, a 17th Century band sampler selling for £1,100 and a collection of Louis Vuitton luggage selling for over £9,000.
(https://fieldingsauctioneers.co.uk/staff/5/alison-snowdon)
Bill Lacey
Picture Consultant
Bill believes his love of art was inherited from his parents both of whom were art students in the 1950s – much of his childhood was spent on the back seat of a Renault 4 heading to art galleries, museums and stately homes up and down the country. Bill recalls “It took a while but I eventually began to share my parents’ passion for painting and wanted to take my interest further”.
In the mid 1970s Bill studied a degree in Fine Art at Wolverhampton Polytechnic. Then in 1979 he joined Phillips Auctioneers in London as a porter, sweeping up and moving furniture before gravitating to the picture department where he was taken on as a junior cataloguer. After eight happy years in London he was appointed as Head of the Picture Department for Phillips in Chester and returned home to Cheshire.
In the early 1990s Bill joined Halls Auctioneers in Shrewsbury where he ran the Picture Department for sixteen years. Seeking new challenges Bill left Halls in 2013 to work as a freelance picture specialist. “Fieldings is a company which I had long admired for their innovative approach and creative ideas in an industry that is traditionally very set in its ways. I am delighted to be part of the Fieldings team and am steadily building the picture department.”
Bill’s interests outside work include photography, fly fishing, cooking and he has recently returned to motorcycling after many years. “I have a sticker on my motorbike stating ‘Adventure before Dementia’ – it always makes me smile and it’s a philosophy I aspire to!”
(https://fieldingsauctioneers.co.uk/staff/12/bill-lacey)
Mark Hannam
Senior Valuer & Collectables Specialist
Mark’s passion for collecting started way back in the 1970s when most of his spare time during summer holiday breaks were spent digging for bottles in Victorian refuse tips – he still has his much beloved stoneware ginger beer bottle collection to this day!
At the tender age of 15 years old he had his first taste of the auction business when he started work experience at a firm of Bournemouth auctioneers. After many years gaining experience with various firms he joined Phillips Auctioneers in 1984 and was immediately sent to London to start his training. Phillips, which then became Bonhams was his home until 2010 when he joined Fieldings Auctioneers. Mark looks after a large majority of the market, probate, private collections and professional services for the company and is a key member of the auctioneering team.
Mark specialises in Collectables and has a vast knowledge of all departments with particular interest in mechanical music, horn gramophones and phonographs.
His passion for Roman and medieval history is second to none and he gives specialist talks on this area, particularly his passion for metal detecting as well as regular lectures on the current art market. His challenge would be to find the next Staffordshire Hoard or equivalent, just watch this space!
(https://fieldingsauctioneers.co.uk/staff/3/mark-hannam)