Silver & Silver-plated items

Silver specialist says collectors were raring to go at a Salisbury auction after months of staring at an online catalogue

The principal private collection of silver sold at Woolley & Wallis's latest specialist auction included a fine array of caddy spoons.

Beer jug or wine jug? The expect purpose of Georgian silver pear-shaped jugs is sometimes unclear.

Gavin Campbell (1851-1922), the 7th Earl of Breadalbane, was a prominent society figure and Liberal politician in the Gladstone administration but is best known in collecting circles as the owner of a vast array of silver.

A group of 56 medals awarded to pioneering photographer Frank Meadow Sutcliffe (1853-1941) is heading back to the area he covered in his evocative images.

A gold medal proclaiming Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the Church of England – the only known example in private hands – comes for sale in Switzerland.

John Douglas’ interest in antique base metalware started over 60 years ago.

The latest silver sale at Woolley & Wallis – first scheduled for November – included a collection of more than 300 lots from a deceased estate.

The West as well as the East made a major contribution to the success of Gorringe’s £1m sale on March 30 where, overall, 86% of the 593 lots sold.

The name ‘peg tankard’ comes from the vertical row of pegs inside that can be used to measure the amount of alcohol drunk as it was passed around a table.

Michael Harris signature piece sells well at auction alongside Louis Osman silver spoons set

With hindsight, the boast made by the Flying Steam Company – 'To China in Twenty-Four Hours Certain' – was a tad ambitious.

The work of French designer Fred Brouard (1944-99) is not uncommon at sales in France and the US but seldom appears at auction in the UK.

The Winter Antiques Sale at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) was topped by consecutive bids of £17,000 each for two Regency white marble busts.

It was a white-glove result for 58 lots of silver card and vesta cases/matchsafes collected by Joseph and Miriam Poser offered for sale by Doyle (26% buyer’s premium) in New York last month.

The future of The London Silver Vaults on Chancery Lane is secure thanks to a new landlord but long-time resident Koopman Rare Art is leaving for Mayfair.

No fewer than 248 pieces feature in this grand Paris porcelain table service painted with floral reserves on a green and gilt border and central flowersprays.