Name: Mark Littler MA (hons)
Title at Tennants: Head of Fine Wine & Whisky Department
Other attributes: General valuer & Auctioneer
No. of years at Tennants: 2 (or near enough!)
Previous employment: Worked at a provincial auction house in the heart of Cheshire
Favourite lot ever sold & why: My favourite lot I have seen go under the hammer was a late 18th century Chinese export sweetmeat dish after a model by Bow. Here we had a design created by Bow circa 1750 being copied by the Chinese only thirty years later. One has to remember that in 1750 porcelain had only been produced in England for a small number of years; China had been producing porcelain for centuries at this point.
Career highlight at Tennants/memorable occasion: My career highlight at Tennants has been establishing the Fine Wine & Whisky sales. The department is now attracting collections from all over the country and we really are establishing a reputation for being the best Fine Wine auction outside of London.
Important or exciting collections sold through you and why you've enjoyed it: There are two collections which stand out. The first was a collection of fourteen bottles of cognac that dated back as far as 1808 (pre-Waterloo!). The collection had bottles from many great 19th century vintages through to the early 20th century. The highlight was a bottle from 1809 that made £2,000 and the entire collection made just short of £20,000.
The other collection that stands out was a vast quantity of silver from a vendor in Scotland. The first consignment of this collection consisted of tea services and good flatware that went on to sell for around £8,000. After the results we achieved for such 'normal' objects he then proceeded to bring his entire collection of family silver; a collection that totalled over £100,000 and took six months to sell.