Historic plates fetch thousands at auction

Two historic Delftware plates belonging to a Devon family have sold for more than £20,000 at auction.

The rare 17th Century artefacts, depicting King James II and a Chinese figure standing in a rocky landscape, were sold separately for £12,600 and £7,560, including buyers' premiums, at Woolley & Wallis auctioneers on Wednesday, a spokesperson said.

Clare Durham, ceramics specialist at Woolley & Wallis, said the two items were "incredibly rare", adding neither has been seen on the market for "upwards of a century".

The plates appeared on BBC One's Antiques Roadshow in Exeter in 2014, when ceramic expert John Sandon described them as "rare as you can get".

While appearing on the television programme, the owner said she transported the valuable items to the city in her handbag and said they had been hanging in the hallway of her husband's family home for years.

Woolley & Wallis said one of the plates depicting the last British Catholic monarch, who reigned between 1685-1688, was one of the strongest clues to their date and value.

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