Forthcoming attractions…

Several small country house properties and other single-owner collections, including the contents of Pilton Manor, a Northampton manor house, and Old House (former Sussex residence of Lord Snowdon), will feature and for added inspiration, the auctioneers will be displaying much of the material in room settings. The sale incorporates a section titled Objects of Desire focusing on small decorative items such as treen and a large collection of over 70 pieces of beadwork and embroidery, some of which is shown here.

House contents sales can usually be relied upon to fill some of the gaps on the interior designer shopping list – and three weeks later the contents of a traditional London townhouse in Belgravia go under the hammer at Bonhams’ Bayswater rooms on September 23. Described as an eclectic mix, the 500-plus lots offer period and period-style furnishings ranging from 18th century giltwood mirrors to a Napoleonic prisoner-of-war bone ship model and a 22in (56cm) high model of the Buddha’s hand, plus a large selection of pictures. And in true ‘everything must go’ style, all the lots are being offered without reserve.

For those seeking a more iconic, design-focused selection, Bonhams’ Bond Street rooms are also holding a sale of British Design the next day, September 24, concentrating on the work of home-grown and UK-based designers from the 1880s to the present. This is one of a trio of auctions held under the heading British Design Week, (the others being devoted to 20th century British art and to studio pottery). It casts the net as far back as the Arts and Crafts designers of the 19th century, moves on through the Cotswold School, Art Deco and Modernism and the work of Fifties pioneers such as Robin and Lucienne Day and Ernest Race to that of major contemporary names such as Tom Dixon and Marc Newsom. So your choice of potential purchases ranges from William de Morgan pottery and Festival of Britain seating and textiles to 1990s prototype chairs.