Trio of 17th-18th century keys from the Crawforth collection – £6000 at Bonhams Edinburgh.
Aided by strong American bidding action, the collection of Andrew Crawforth, the late Portobello Road trader and leading authority on early metalware, turned base metal into gold when all 431 lots – offered wihtout reserve – sold at Bonhams’ (27.5% buyer’s premium) Edinburgh sale.
Bunches of keys played a major role in the collection totalling £386,000, more than doubling the low estimate for the September 13 sale.