Today's Object(s) of the Week are three paintings which have gained worldwide attention.

OUR object of the week today should really be in the plural, as we’ve selected a number of artworks which have come under the hammer recently.

Leading Yorkshire Fine Art Auctioneers David Duggleby, based in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, are reporting that lockdown sales are proving a spectacular success, attracting huge levels of interest – and bidding – from as far away as Hong Kong.

Both of the auctions that have taken place since the introduction of the second national coronavirus lockdown have achieved way over expectations – despite being staged with an almost empty saleroom.

Managing director Will Duggleby said: “The only people present in the room during these sales are the auctioneer and a clerk on the rostrum with the computer screens, plus the socially distanced team handling telephone bidding.

“There are no buyers in the saleroom. It is quite strange but the number of people following the auctions on line has been astonishing.

“The Autumn Art Sale – which took place just one day after the start of this latest lockdown – pointed the way things would go. The results were amazing. Lot after lot matched or topped the most optimistic pre-sale estimates.”

The star of the show was ‘On the beach’, a painting by the Newlyn School artist Dorothea Sharpe that made £16,500, comfortably over pre-sale expectations.

That was bought by one of the country’s largest art dealers but Yorkshire collectors were involved in the bidding battles for just about every lot all in a particularly good county picture section.

It was a Yorkshire collector who paid £9,600, top estimate, for Richard Weatherill’s atmospheric ‘Whitby Harbour with sailing vessels and steam paddle boat’, a painting that has been described as an ‘exhibition quality work by Whitby’s best artist’.

Meanwhile two local collectors were involved in fierce bidding for Henry Redmore’s ‘Wreck of the Coupland’, a painting depicting the 1861 tragedy in which the Scarborough lifeboat overturned going to the aid of a South Shields schooner that had run aground in a fierce storm.

A Scarborough buyer paid £6,100 for the painting, which was again towards the upper end of the pre-sale estimate.

The Country House Sale the following day (Saturday, November 7) chalked up another success, providing some even more surprising results.

A set of 12 silver dinner plates made in 1769 by Thomas Heming, Principle Goldsmith to George III, probably for the 1st Earl of Lonsdale, sold for £7,000.

That was in line with expectations but the auction also saw a Victorian Steinway grand piano go for £6,800, a beautiful late 19th century Chinese black lacquer and gilt games box make a jaw-dropping £3,100, and a Jacobean style oak four-poster bed sell for £3,300, all of which were amongst lots that attracted international bidding and achieved way over predicted results.

Meanwhile Mouseman oak furniture continued its extraordinary run with a double wardrobe going for £4,000, a panelled oak tallboy making £4,100 and a bedstead selling for £4,300.

Asked about the reason for the success, Mr. Duggleby said: “Lockdown appears to be providing us with captive audiences both in this country and abroad.

“The number of people who are viewing online catalogues, making enquiries and registering to bid has massively increased.”

“We have also invested heavily in our online marketing systems. We’re extremely pleased with the way they are working and the results they are achieving. We are feeling very confident as we enter a very busy time of the year with no fewer than eight major auctions in the next few weeks covering everything from toys and jewellery to art, antiques and collectables.”