Auctioneers

With 207 pieces of silver from the Levant and all points East to China on offer at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium), the stand-out pieces were the work of Iranian smiths.

Sailor’s sweethearts or valentines were once thought to have been made by sailors as love tokens during their long trips away from home.

The Aguttes (25/23% buyer’s premium) Old Masters auction on June 28 at Drouot was led by a Murillo oil on canvas depicting the Christ child as The Good Shepherd.

The artists’ enclave of Newlyn in Cornwall was not exclusively a colony of painters.

The highlight of Tajan’s (25/20/12%buyer’s premium) Old Masters auction held on June 22 was an impressive large-scale modello created by the Italian artist Francesco Solimena (1657-1747) in preparation for his painting for the ceiling of San Domenico Maggiore, in Naples.

Austrian auction house Dorotheum will open a new office in Hamburg providing valuations and exhibitions. The office will be run by Dr Catherine, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein, who joins as the new managing director of Dorotheum Germany and new director of Dorotheum Hamburg.

Colourful work with provenance back to artist’s sister catches the attention in Kent saleroom

Bonhams Skinner’s August 13 Americana auction in Massachusetts will feature a wide selection of American, English and Chinese Export works of art and paintings.

Another high price for Helen Bradley (1900-79) came at Cheshire saleroom Wilson55 (22% buyer’s premium) last month.

Sealed examples with coats of arms, names, dates and places reveal a social history and give an ideal opportunity for genealogical research

Of all antique sealed bottles, those made for the All Souls College Common Room are probably the most prevalent.

Works by William Ratcliffe (1870- 1955) are pretty rare on the market and, when they do turn up, they tend to appear at London auctions.

This sealed and dated onion in olive green glass, below, comes with a handwritten scrap of paper inscribed 'George found [this bottle] when he dived into the Thames at Windsor'. The seal reads 'S Slater 1710'.

A new record for a Royal Doulton figure has been set in Stoke-on-Trent.

The sale of Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh on July 13 included a document signed by the adventurer and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh (1554-1618).

Two Scottish auction houses have merged to form a new operation: Thomson Roddick Callan.

Just as the title reads, this album offered by Mellors & Kirk in Nottingham contains Specimens of Needle-Work Executed in the Female Model School, Kildare-Place, Dublin.