Always popular items, a Georgian lead cistern offered at Summers Place Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) was also rare in being circular. Usually they are rectangular, having stood against a wall connected to downpipes.

Extracted from Antiques Trade Gazette | ATG Reporter

The 3ft 7in diameter x 4ft 6in high (1.1 x 1.38m) cistern, catalogued as a planter, which is their inevitable use today, also had an impressive past.

Dated 1774, it was initialled ID and bore a coat of arms centred with the red hand of Ulster, probably that of the Chetwynd family. Decorative touches adding to its appeal included signs of the Zodiac, Renaissance-style romaine heads and an elaborate bronze stylised dolphin tap.

Pitched at £5000-8000 at the October 1 sale at Billingshurst, it sold to a private UK buyer at £12,000.