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First-edition sets with well-preserved jackets and perhaps a signature or an inscription usually make the really big money where Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is concerned, but a recent Dublin sale produced something rather unusual.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham described making her late work, a colourful and energetic collection, as ‘letting rip’.

Designed by Bodil Kjaer, this 1960s oak, palisander and steel ‘executive desk’ offered at Chiswick Auctions (23% buyer’s premium) is a classic example of the huge influence of Scandinavian architects on Western post-war design.

Published jointly by Kellogg & Comstock of New York and D Needham of Buffalo, c.1849-50, the rare and amusing hand coloured lithograph shown below is titled The Independent Gold Hunter on His Way to California: I Neither Borrow nor Lend.

Milliner Victoria Grant is known for her high-society hats, worn by the likes of Kate Moss, Beyoncé and Carla Delevigne. But in an exhibition of her works at Old Master dealer Philip Mould’s gallery, society faces are on, not under, the hats.

Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood of Exeter plans to hold its first-ever 20th century and contemporary art and design sale later this month.

Almost a quarter of a century since ATG’s first overview of the numismatic market, ATG reviews the comings and goings of 2017

Upholstered Victorian armchairs not being the most in-demand of auction lots at present, the £100-150 estimate of a pair offered at Greenslade Taylor Hunt (19.5% buyer’s premium) did not seem overly pessimistic.

When Bill Kime, senior decorative arts specialist at the Waddington’s (20% buyer’s premium) saleroom, was contacted early last year by a couple from British Columbia about selling their collection of Martinware, he jumped at the chance.

Three years since he launched his Suffolk auction house Bishop & Miller, managing director Oliver Miller is fine-tuning his sales line-up.

A coin that a set a record for a British five pound piece features among the hammer highlights for coins and banknotes sold across the year at auction.

A good weight and a good name helped this London 1890 embossed silver punch bowl to double the lower estimate at TW Gaze (18% buyer’s premium).

After more than a decade of holding auctions in west London, Holts Auctioneers is relocating to a new saleroom to the south-east of the capital this March.

The Zulu War medal awarded to Driver Charles Robson, batman to commanding officer Lieutenant John Chard during the epic defence of Rorke’s Drift, sold for £110,000 at Dix Noonan Webb on March 2.

More down to earth than the Bentley Speed Sixes and MG TDs of the classic car world, this 1961 GPO van nevertheless was a major draw at Biddle & Webb (20% buyer’s premium) in Birmingham.

MADAM – Re: the article ‘So what is museum quality?’ (Letters, ATG No 2328).

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period February 1-7, 2018. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Their backgrounds might have made them strange bedfellows: Edgar Degas (1834-1917), the lawyer turned publicity-shy painter and printmaker, and Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), the sculptor from a working-class background who achieved fame with his large, often controversial works.

'Steal me not but let me jog; for I am Mrs Gwynn’s Dog.' For lovers of antique dog collars, collecting examples engraved with an amusing inscription such as this one, or a quirky owner’s name, is all part of the fun.