Smiths Antiques and Collectables Auction on February 12-13 is just in time for Valentines Day and there are some beautiful pieces of jewellery in the sale which would be absolutely perfect for a really romantic gift.

Smiths are always encouraging people to bring in their boxes of old costume jewellery to the auction room because it can be very surprising what can be found and what is of value. This last week a client brought in a box of her aunt’s old costume jewellery which contained an assortment of bead necklaces, eight rather glitzy diamanté rings and several brooches. Smiths’ valuers immediately honed in on the rings which looked like they might be interesting. Sure enough two of them turned out to be the real thing – although to the untrained eye they all looked remarkably similar. One of the rings was a beautiful antique 18ct gold diamond set marquise form ring which was estimated at £500/£700. The other was a traditional 18ct gold three tier diamond cluster ring estimated at £280/£350.

The remaining six rings included a 9ct gold antique paste ring estimated at £60/£80 and five diamante dress rings - including two silver examples and even a Marks & Spencer’s ring. Some of the better quality costume pieces can actually be surprisingly popular. They are particularly suited to ladies who travel in style or go on exotic cruises and want to bring out the ‘bling’ in the evenings - but don’t want to risk taking their expensive jewellery.

On further inspection the box also contained a lovely antique enamel and pink paste brooch estimated at £30/£50 and a selection of Murano glass and other trinkets estimated at £20/£40. All in all the lower end of the estimates totalled just under a thousand pounds - not a bad result for a box of costume jewellery that could have easily ended up at the charity shop or a car boot sale!

One highlight from the ceramic section is a beautiful Moorcroft vase in a very rare variant of the Cornflower pattern by William Moorcroft. Dating from around 1930 this vase is thought to be a one off trial piece which features a white cornflower on a rich cobalt blue ground. The original cornflower design was created by William Moorcroft in 1905 and is one of his earliest and most successful ‘Florian Ware’ creations. He then revisited the design in the 1930’s and tried a few different variants on different coloured grounds – this one clearly not being chosen to go into mainstream production. Therefore this one off experimental piece could prove to be a strong attraction for Moorcroft collectors and is estimated at £300/£500.

The January sale also features a large selection of paintings including two very handsome oil on canvas paintings of still life fruit by John F Smith. Astonishingly these extremely fine traditional looking paintings are quite modern, as the artist was born in 1934. The reason for this contradiction is that he was employed as a porcelain artist by Royal Worcester between 1950 and 1971 before setting up as an artist in his own right.

Estimated at just £100/£150 each this seems a very reasonable price for such a skilful work of art.

In the collectables section there is a range of items from Africa and India collected by a client who lived and worked abroad for most of his life. As well as a selection of carved wood decorative antiques, rare books and archeological stone samples there is an early 20th century cavalry mapping or surveying board. This unusual item has an integral inset compass and clinometer flanked by two rollers each side to hold the paper, plus a leather strap to the back to fasten it to your wrist. This would have been used for drawing and updating maps in the field by military personnel in small reconnaissance groups on horseback. When you imagine this laborious process compared to today’s satellite navigation systems, it’s quite an astonishing contrast. How on earth could you explain Elon Musk’s Starlink system and modern day drone warfare to a man from 1900 who is used to drawing maps on a board strapped to his wrist whilst riding a horse!

Smiths fully illustrated catalogue will be online from the 6th of February with the viewing taking place on February 10-11 from 10am to 5pm. Entries for future sales are invited by appointment. Please telephone 01531 821776 or visit www.smithsnewentauctions.co.uk for further information.