Keys

Tiny portrait thought to show a Spanish noblewoman was bought at a local school in the 1970s

Two rare documentary Lowestoft lots - both made for a Norfolk farmer - could be reunited after years apart. Both have been consigned to Keys in Aylsham.

This Calcedonia glass turtle made by Murano master Dino Rosin comes for sale at Norfolk auction house Keys on November 22-24.

The north European Mannerist bronze sold for £550,000 against a guide of £250-350 was not the only spectacular sleeper in the August 8 sale at Reeman Dansie (22.5% buyer’s premium).

With the traditional hiatus in the UK auction market typically stretching across the month of August, a number of notable picture highlights appeared slightly earlier this summer at sales around the country.

The boar’s head tureen with matching stand is considered the rarest of all the game tureens made by the Minton factory in its colourful majolica range.

The esteem in which British botanist William Lawrence Balls (1882-1960) was held is obvious from lots offered at Norfolk auction house Keys (25% buyer’s premium) on July 26-28.

This Christmas card sent by the royal family was offered among a small group of memorabilia at Keys (22% buyer’s premium) of Aylsham on March 29-31.

A couple of late 19th or early 20th century works on paper by northern European artists caught the eyes of bidders recently, flying over lowly estimates

The cylindrical brush pot or bitong appears to have been introduced into the repertoire of Chinese ceramic forms in the late 1620s.

It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden but peaceful passing of John Lines.

Most watercolours by Violet Esther Drury Clutterbuck (1869-1960) tend to fetch a few hundred pounds or less at auction.

Collecting 18th century English porcelain is still a popular pursuit – but there’s no doubt that the core collecting audience is smaller than it once was.

Famille rose vases decorated with ‘Hundred Boys’ scenes are among the most commercial of all Qing ceramics.

The Islamic and Indian Art sale at Bonhams (27.5/25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) on March 29 was topped by a diamond and emerald set gold pendant from the collection of Maharani Jindan Kaur (1817-63).

One of 250 copies of a ‘Special’ and signed first edition of Ian Fleming’s 'On Her Majesty’s Secret Service' is shown here.

The highest single price posted in the regions during the autumn series of Asian art sales was the £380,000 bid at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Dorchester for a monumental Sino-Tibetan gilt bronze devotional figure of Tara broadly dated to the Qing period.

The Aynsley factory’s reputation for good quality, unadventurous bone china tea and coffee wares made it the safe choice for many British households.

The third edition of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was the last of those published in 1843, coming out (appropriately) on Christmas Eve.

This near-complete Böttger Meissen tea set, c.1725, came for sale at Keys of Aylsham on September 1.