Auctioneers

Items associated with the White Star Line, the British shipping company that built its global brand on unmatched passenger comfort, continue to thrive at auction.

One of the big surprises at a recent Ketterer (27% buyer’s premium) book auction in Hamburg was the result for a signed lithograph by Maurits Cornelis Escher.

Motor Launch 397 was one of about 500 of these 37-ton boats built by Elco during the First World War and was heavily involved with the 1918 raids on the German-held ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge.

A work described as an “exciting addition to the oeuvre of Gillis Claeissens (1526-1605)” was the star performer at Sworders’ (25% buyer’s premium) latest Old Master, British and European art sale.

A mirror for an East End brewery set a new record at £33,000 as the breweriana collecting market matures

Unusual models brings strong demand as the RAF Museum sold off items it viewed as no longer needed

A four-page letter written by Edward ‘Bill’ Wilson to a friend during the early days of the doomed British Antarctic Expedition sold for £19,000 at Fieldings (26% buyer’s premium) in Stourbridge.

Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier had a long and distinguished career, making a name for himself with his many-figured paintings of historical meetings.

If The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers are to your liking, a large single-owner collection of military medals comprising nearly 100 lots dedicated to the regiment offered in Somerset on May 28 would have caught your eye.

Bidders spot copy of 1631 Barker bible that contains jaw-dropping mistakes missed in proof-reading

Since it was purchased at Sotheby’s in London in 1935, a painting by Pieter Brueghel the Younger had remained in possession of the family of a Swiss collector.

“The Russians opened fire on our right, on our left, and then in front...

Guided at £800-1200, a 10in (26cm) medieval ‘rotating’ or ‘register’ bookmark sold at £7000 at Semley Auctioneers (22% buyer’s premium) in Shaftesbury, Dorset on May 16.

The Spink (20% buyer’s premium) sale on April 23 that included the Rorke’s Drift medal awarded to ‘Ammunition Smith’ (see News, ATG No 2742) also featured several other notable lots.

Banker and businessman Jörg Woltmann, who rescued the Berlin porcelain manufacturer, now also acquires a huge vase by the firm.

Personal stories grab the attention of militaria collectors, transforming dry histories of dates and names, facts and figures into real-life flesh and blood tales.

During the First World War aviators of the Royal Flying Corps suffered from the cold over the Western Front. A solution was the ’fug boot’.