Auction Reports

Two of London’s salerooms sold Georgian pocket globes on March 12. Both hammered well above what proved modest estimates.

Lake District cabinetmaker and woodcarver Ernest John Oldcorn trained at Gillows of Lancaster but he found his niche after joining the Arthur W Simpson workshop.

The March 3-4 sale at Chorley’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Prinknash Abbey, Gloucestershire, was topped by a good example of Qing imperial needlework: a yellow ground silk and metal thread cushion cover.

Norwegian kjenge or kasa have been used for drinking ale at special occasions since the medieval period.

Despite the strict antique ivory rules, Japanese art can still take big sums - as a Norfolk sale demonstrates

Specialist dealer sells items from his collection in two-day auction as he heads towards semi-retirement

Specialist from west London saleroom delighted to handle not one but two Newcastle rarities in a year

Bourne End Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium) in Buckinghamshire included a highly desirable Dunhill accessory on March 4.

Edwardian silver and enamel desk sets are rarely as extensive as this one sold by Franklin Browns (18% buyer’s premium) in Edinburgh.

Elements of a well-documented Empire period Sèvres dinner and dessert service surfaced at Kinghams (26% buyer’s premium) in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, on March 4.

A diminutive but rare mid-17th century needlework picture sold for £11,000 in Tennants’ (24% buyer’s premium) latest Fashion, Costume and Textiles Sale.

Japanned Jennens & Bettridge creation gains value as rare survivor in such good condition

The New Orphan Houses in the Ashley Down district in the north of Bristol were once the largest orphanages in the UK.

London numismatic auction house Morton & Eden (23% buyer’s premium) sold a silver plaquette by the great Dutch silversmith Paulus van Vianen (1570-1613) for £130,000 at a recent sale.

Across the Georgian period a number of diminutive ‘bachelor’s’ teapots were produced that were probably intended for brewing saffron.

The latest sale of Cornish Art, Fine Art & Studio Pottery at Lay’s (21% buyer’s premium) in Penzance featured 85 lots from the personal art collection of Michael Hunt.

Among the most desirable of the Chinese export porcelain patterns made for the Dutch market is the so-called ‘skating lesson’ design.

A decade ago V&A curators used an X-ray to discover what was inside a vintage Christmas cracker made in the 1920s by the Tom Smith company without having to actually pull it. This revealed a small chocolate.

Contrasting contraptions both sell for strong five-figure sums in salerooms north and south

It has been estimated there are between 500 and 1000 different types of marble-in-neck mineral water bottles based on the famous 1872 patent by Hiram Codd.