Decorative Art

The Christopher Foley collection of British commemorative medals will be sold at Salisbury auctioneers Woolley & Wallis on October 16. The sale is the most comprehensive of its type seen for a century or more.

With the Scottish referendum only weeks away, there could hardly be a better time to offer a replica of a reliquary which for centuries was a powerful symbol of Scotland’s national identity.

Highlights from the Coslov collection of English majolica will be on show in London next month prior to their sale at Freeman’s in Philadelphia on October 7.

There are signs that last year’s publication of ‘The Della Robbia Pottery’ by Peter Hyland has given a lift to the market for the distinctive wares produced in Birkenhead by Harold Rathbone and Conrad Dressler between 1894-1906.

In the days when muzzle-loaders were the only choice for shooters, the one essential accessory was a flask for the powder. Many a battle or huntsman’s quarry has been lost through poorly kept powder.

It’s only recently in the decade-long boom in Chinese works of art that Far Eastern buyers have come to appreciate once again the merits of Export silver. Once a neglected area, academic interest has been piqued in the subject as the marketplace moves in leaps and bounds.

A massive Coalport Feldspar porcelain jug painted with a study of Earl Spencer’s Durham Ox in a parkland setting has been bought by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

Discovered at a regional valuation day held in Shropshire by Hansons of Etwall, this Tiffany and Co. silver and mixed-media tea caddy had been a wedding gift and had remained in the family of the vendor since the 1920s.

A strong selection of Tudric (pewter) and Cymric (silver) creations by Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co was the focus of keen bidding at Bonhams’ decorative arts from 1860 sale in New Bond Street.

Seventeenth century Dublin trefid spoons are extremely scarce. Last year a single rat-tailed example by Andrew Gregory, 1685, sold for €9000 at Adams of Dublin.

English cameo glass was the star of the show at Woody Auction’s second dispersal from the collection of Dr Ernest and Karin Rieger held in Wichita, Kansas.

Knocking others off their perch, Salisbury’s Woolley & Wallis improved upon their own auction record for Martin Brothers with the £75,000 sale of this bird jar to Gloucestershire British art pottery dealers AD Antiques.

The year 1737 was something of an annus horribilis for George II.

A rare example of 18th century Jamaican silver was a highlight of the latest decorative works of art sale held by Matthew Barton of Blythe Road, Olympia.

Trading from the Arts Museum in Cockspur Street, the famous James Giles (1718-80) china and glass decorating atelier produced an enormous diversity of bijouterie for the London luxury trade.

Coming to the Pembrokeshire Antiques Fair organised by Towy Fairs at Picton Castle, near Haverfordwest next weekend (June 7-8) are some 50 pieces of richly-glazed Ewenny pottery.

For a cast-iron sign that spring has brought a resurgence in the garden look to the results of the recent biannual sale of garden design at Summers Place Auctions where Coalbrookdale seats were back in the limelight.

James II large silver chinoiserie footed salver, the circular top flat-chased with a continuous border of four Oriental figures, two long-legged birds and further birds in flight among palm trees and other foliage, beneath sunrays emerging from clouds and further clouds. London 1688 by Benjamin Yate (maker`s mark YT), diameter approx 131/2in (34.3cm). Estimate £30,000-50,000. Sold for £30,000 hammer at Tooveys of Washington, West Sussex, May 21, 2014.

A trial model of a champion dog led the way among a group of Beswick figures sold at a recent auction in Stoke-on-Trent.

A very hefty price for a Baroque work of art emerged recently at the Drouot auction centre.