Auction Reports

Country house contents, global interest and a packed room of bidders - what more could an auctioneer wish for?

This stained glass panel painted with two female nudes against a watery background flanked by the words 'FAR' and 'END' to the sides and 'SALVE' at the bottom was keenly pursued at Adam Partridge (20% buyer’s premium) in Cheshire on February 28.

The latest edition of The Oak Interior auction held by Bishop & Miller (25% buyer’s premium) in Stowmarket on February 28-29 majored heavily on metalwork.

This large rectangular earthenware trough, measuring 20in (21cm) across the handles, is part of the range of flower containers made by the Fulham Pottery for the society florist Constance Spry (1886-1960) from the mid-1930s to the 1950s.

The Clarice Cliff, Art Deco & Design auction at Woolley & Wallis (26% buyer’s premium) in Salisbury on March 20 included this rare 10in (25cm) vase, shape no 375, decorated in the Archaic pattern mirroring a capital design from a temple in Luxor.

Three-hundred lot sale of the Art Deco classic shows signs of the market returning to 1990s boom time

Two sales of the classic furniture include items featuring direct family history

An auction house has existed in the Dore & Rees premises, a Victorian gothic building on Vicarage Street, Frome, since 1868.

“He stored everything like Russian dolls, everything packed away into something else."

Ceramics historian cited this item to show how two types of decoration were used in combination

In 1969 the Rolling Stones were ready to go touring again after a gap of more than two years. Featuring a new guitarist, the 17-date tour in the US began on November 7.

A professional diver snapped up a up a vintage US Navy diving helmet that surfaced in the middle of the English countryside.

A football medal sold at a Cheshire auction house was so early in date that it was only the 13th time the FA Cup final had been contested, the game was played at Kennington Oval and the opposition was a Scottish team.

It may have been catalogued as requiring restoration but a “scarce” 19th century Korean helmet still managed to sell for 82 times its low estimate at Hansons (26% buyer’s premium).

As with many 1980s toys, the Thundercats range was produced to accompany a TV or film series.

What Special Auction Services (20% buyer’s premium) in Newbury billed as “the largest and most valuable doll collection to been seen at auction for 25 years” went under the hammer on February 22 with a further slice to come in April.

The high-flyer in Dreweatts’ (26/25/20/15% buyer’s premium) sale of the contents of Collections from Cairness House and a Wimpole Street townhouse was the set of six Chippendale chairs made for Brocket Hall that sold for £95,000 (see News, ATG No 2629).

An Arctic fox fur owned and worn by a 1930s movie star dubbed Britain’s answer to Ginger Rogers turned heads at a Derby saleroom.

When it comes to period costume antique footwear can often command some of the strongest prices.

The Royal Doulton figure Guy Fawkes designed by Charles Noke was issued as HN98 from 1918.