Tamlyns

Details on the back of a pastel drawing lead to detective work and royal portraitist connection...

Breathing quality, this 22ct gold, pocket watch, below, was by an apparently unrecorded maker but nevertheless pitched at a positive £3000-3200 at Tamlyns’ (18% buyer’s premium) sale at Bridgwater on August 30.

Readers old enough to remember using one at school may also recall Sam Cooke’s 1960 song in which he lamented “don’t know what a slide rule is for”. Today, few teenagers would know what one was.

A piece of Russian porcelain and an Asian painting raised most interest at West Country auctioneers Tamlyns (18% buyer’s premium) on March 8. However, a 13in long (34cm) gouache scroll painting of magpies and prunus was considerably more of a surprise.

Inspired by an exhibition marking the 400th anniversary of Raphael’s birth in 1883, Alexander III (1845-94) commissioned a porcelain dinner service for use in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoe Selo, writes Roland Arkell.

From different centuries and different cultures – same surprising high results for these two toys offered at Tamlyns’ (18% buyer’s premium) sale at Bridgwater on February 15.