Metalware

Martin Roberts, the UK specialist who worked as a consultant on the Punta Cana site, discusses the importance of the Pewter Wreck.

Doncaster auctioneer Sid Wilkinson is to sell items from a huge cache of Tudor pewter tablewares recently discovered by professional treasure hunters off the coast of the Dominican Republic.

The Benson collection of early spoons was dispersed at Christie’s King Street last week. The highest selling lot was a Henry VI spoon with a Wodewose or wild man finial (one of only four known) which was secured by a UK private buyer on the phone for £70,000.

When she was given the task of cataloguing the japanned ware at the Wolverhampton Art Galleries and Museums, Yvonne Jones quickly discovered two things: the subject was more complex than most people had assumed and there was little in the way of research to help her.

One of only around 100 made, this reclining Chinaman cast-iron money bank will go under the hammer at Unique Auctions of Lincoln on January 1.

The 20th/21st Century Design sale at Rago Arts of Lambertville, New Jersey on October 26-28 included this exceptional enamel by Alexander Fisher (1864-1936).

A pair of 2ft 3in (71cm) high Elkington & Co cloisonné vases with ornate ormolu mounts will be offered on December 13-14 by Cheshire auctioneers Adam Partridge.

Bonhams’ Chester rooms will offer the Michael Boorer Pewter Collection on November 22, providing an opportunity for pewter collectors to bid for items used in pubs 300 to 400 years ago.

The 14th century Wenlok Jug has been returned to a Luton museum after it was stolen in May.

This Saturday, Provenance Auction House of Cape Town will sell the first instalment of an extraordinary collection of 300 bells formed by the late Keith Blumgart.

The outstanding lot at the latest three-day sale at Bonhams Chester was this extremely rare c.1680 tankard.

A very rare medieval jug, originally sold at Sotheby’s but then put on display by a Luton museum after a successful appeal to keep it in the UK, has been stolen.

Sworders’ Spring Country House sale in Stansted Mountfitchet on April 24 included a remarkable collection of pieces designed by Augustus Pugin for his own Ramsgate home.

“THERE shall be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm, and one measure of ale and one measure of corn – namely, the London quart.”

A 19th century brass lectern stolen from a church in Wiltshire has emerged at an antiques fair in Romania.

MADE by James A. Miller and Brother of Chicago to a design of c.1898, Frank Lloyd Wright’s 18in (45cm) high spherical copper urn worked with repoussé panels of interlocking geometric decoration, shown here, has become an icon of the American Arts & Crafts movement.

AUCTIONEERS Martel Maides of St Peter Port in Guernsey were amazed to encounter this Channel Islands silver table bell in a recent over-the-counter valuation.

IN a private sale negotiated by Christie’s, the Victoria and Albert Museum has acquired this remarkable 16th century tankard made for the Ottoman court.

THE Staffordshire Hoard has been saved for the nation – and a further £1.7m appeal has been launched to pay for its conservation, study and display.

Following a confidential agreement between the parties involved, the Fatimid rock crystal ewer ‘sold’ for £220,000 at Lawrences of Crewkerne will reappear at Christie’s next month with an estimate of over £3m.