Auctioneers

This small Gothic Revival beaker was made by ecclesiastical metal manufacturer John Hardman (Birmingham, 1848) at the height of the first partnership with AWN Pugin.

Games manifesto from 1892 and Audubon’s classic head a selection of money-spinners.

The typical Georgian silver coffee pot is one of the great bargains of 21st century antiques collecting.

Victorian silver novelties do not come much better than this claret jug, formed as a 9in (23cm) tall kneeling elephant by James Barclay Hennell, London 1881. The hinged head (currently lacking tusks) forms the cover.

This rediscovered drawing of the future George IV (1762-1830) is believed to have been owned by his true love Maria Fitzherbert (1756-1837).

A sale of art and antiques from a Worcestershire manor house included the rare appearance at auction of two examples of Opus Anglicanum.

Trade bodies and dealers with shops have given a collective thumbs-up to the new Conservative government’s pledge to slash small business rates by half.

Scientific instruments and photographica specialist Flints Auctions has opened new premises and is launching a fresh type of sale.

Rescued from a skip, a rusting British enamel advertising sign sold for £10,400 (plus 24% buyer’s premium) at auction in Carmarthen.

Peninsular War medals featuring 13 or 14 clasps – showing how many actions the recipient fought in – are impressive enough in themselves. But three of them awarded to brothers who served in the same regiment, offered as a single lot at auction, takes demand to a different level.

A superb copy of Henry Hexham’s 'Principles of the Art Militarie' of 1637 was last seen at Sotheby’s in April 1919, as part of the library of the Earl of Chesterfield.

Bid just short of the high estimate to sell at £56,000 in a Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium) sale was a rare complete set in 25 original parts of John Gould’s 'Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming Birds' of 1849-61.