Detail of signature and labels on the back also shown.

The Dreweatts (26% buyer’s premium) sale on June 18 included two Cartier brooches commissioned by Sir Stephen Courtauld to designs inspired by Eltham Palace.

Although the designer and silversmith are unknown, this silver snake jug forms part of the group of trompe l’oeil objects produced during the 1870s-80s by the Gorham factory in Providence, Rhode Island.

BADA dealer Timothy Millett, a specialist in historical medals and related works of art, says today’s election debates have nothing on an 18th century hustings.

Three Royal Worcester vases on offer were all painted by the versatile decorator

The Fine Jewellery sale at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury on July 10-11 features many fine antique items such as these two documentary pieces.

Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was one of 20th century USA’s most prominent architects, inventors and designers.

The Rare Books sale at Ketterer Kunst (25/20/19% buyer’s premium) in Hamburg on May 27 included this first edition dedication copy of Das Kapital (1867).

Our selection of lots from nine upcoming auctions

With very few exceptions, the French artist Victor Philippe Lemoine-Benoit (active 1831-50) devoted almost all of his painting career to one subject: hot-air balloons of the type made famous by the Montgolfier brothers in the late 18th century.

Estimated at $15,000-20,000 but hammering for $135,000 (£107,000), the highlight of the Asian works of art sale at Tenmoku (28/25/20% buyer’s premium) was a Chinese white-glazed incised dragon vase.

Serpenti jewels, which followed the launch of Bulgari’s signature gold Tubogas bracelets in the late 1940s, were featured in Vogue and other fashion magazines on countless occasions in the Sixties.

A collection of close to 100 Arts & Crafts belt buckles formed just part of the remarkable Anthony Gardner collection sold by Bellmans (25% buyer’s premium) in Wisborough Green, West Sussex, on April 16.

Highlights from the London Jewels sale at Bonhams on June 13

In a private collection since it was last sold in 1991, one of only two known autograph manuscripts by author and journalist Albert Camus of his masterpiece L’Etranger was sold by Tajan (23/20/12% buyer’s premium) in Paris on June 5.

Concept Art Gallery (22% buyer’s premium) in Pittsburgh enjoyed a sensational result at a recent sale.

A box of Chinese porcelain left in an attic in the Lincolnshire Wolds for more than two decades has sold for £162,000 at auction.

Watch chatelaine offered at auction was produced by a man who created many works for the Hanoverian household