Sale Highlights - Jewellery & Watches, Silver & Gold - May 2021

Posted On: 25 May 2021 by Greg Bateman

£30 find makes staggering £14,000 hammer in Batemans of Stamford specialist auction!

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Sale Highlights - Jewellery & Watches, Silver & Gold - May 2021

On Friday 21st May offered as part of Batemans’ specialist quarterly Jewellery & Watches, Silver & Gold Sale, this very sparkly timepiece more than doubled its pre-sale estimates of £5,000 - £8,000 and sold to an online bidder for a new auction house watch record of £16,800 (including 20% Buyer’s Premium).

 

 

It comes with a wonderful fairy tale story of being purchased 'almost blind' via an online-only sale during Lockdown in a 'general group lot' for an unbelievable £30!

Having contacted Batemans in April and arranging to leave the watch with us for a thorough inspection, Managing Director & Specialist Valuer Greg Bateman was thrilled to give the vendor some fantastic news: it IS real, and we would be pleased to offer it in one of our Specialist auctions with pre-sale estimates of £5,000 - £8,000.

Now catalogued fully as a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Daytona Cosmograph stainless steel cased gentleman's wristwatch, Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified, circa 2009, reference 116520. It was fitted with an in house Rolex caliber 4130 movement, one of Rolex's earlier in house efforts, and following the Transitional Zenith 4030 caliber seen in the reference 16520. It did not have any box or paperwork, it had an aftermarket diamond encrusted bezel set with 124 diamonds, totalling over 3.5ct, and was of uncertain origin, however this did not deter the bidders - it rightly generated a great deal of interest as it came up for sale.

With absentee bids taking it from £5,000 all the way up to £10,000 as the lot opened and FIVE telephone bidders on various lines something special was happening. After a brief flurry of bids from several phones, and both internet platforms, auctioneer David Palmer was soon saying "I'm selling at £14,000 to the internet.... any more on the phones? no?...... SOLD!"

 

Managing Director Greg Bateman said “We are so pleased to have generated such a spectacular result for our local vendor, not only to have confirmed for them, with our specialist knowledge and experience, that this was indeed a real Rolex, but to have sold it for them in such impressive style - they definitely came to the right place!"

 

The last Rolex sold at Batemans to make five figures was a 1960's Rolex Submariner, model 5513, with the original receipt from the NAAFI Rap Sharjah, Persian Gulf which made £11,000 hammer in January 2014.

 

You can view our original catalogue listing including many more photographs here: https://www.batemans.com/catalogue/lots/79E01A51605CC7CC73844358BBD4488818277532C0E800699F18C037D28F4EA2/9F72C1814B6F84555A7FE5BC5D559A1B/jewellery-watches-silver-gold-lot-156/

 

If you have any Rolex or other collectable watches you would like to sell please contact Batemans Office directly, by telephone: 01780 766466, by email: auctions@batemans.com, or by visiting www.batemans.com