Features

Military history and regimental glamour combine in a Victorian silver cigar case offered at Ripon auction house Elstob & Elstob (25% buyer’s premium).

A private collection of naval and military vinaigrettes was among the highlights of a recent Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’ premium) Silver & Objects of Vertu auction. It included examples of both familiar and less-familiar models.

The Assay Office in Norwich closed in 1702, so secular objects in particular that bear the city’s mark are rare. Rarer still are pieces bearing the mark of the only female silversmith registered in Norwich towards the end of that period.

Cheffins’ sale of Jewellery, Silver & Watches on April 6 includes, as part of a 100-piece single-owner collection, this 145oz George III silver gilt presentation two-handled cup and cover.

The firm established in Switzerland nearly 140 years ago achieved many ‘firsts’ in chronograph production. ATG considers the market for some of the most famous references from the Navitimer to the ‘Thunderball’ Top Time

Over the years, the Navitimer has undergone a variety of cosmetic and mechanical changes. Pictured here are three iterations of the watch as it evolved across two decades.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” comments Fellows’ watch specialist Kes Crockett. “Jaeger LeCoultre is the best watchmaker in the world. Rolex is without question the most well-known manufacturer and Patek Philippe has produced some of the most collectable watches on the market. However, JLC arguably has a richer and more important horological history than both.”

The Fifty Fathoms watch was born in the 1950s from the encounter between the Swiss firm Blancpain (by then using the legal trading name Rayville) and two French naval officers, Capt Robert Maloubier and Lt Claude Riffaud.

The slide rule shown here belonged to Dhunjeebhoy Rustomjee, who came from a fine line of Indian master ship builders in ancestry.

Musical automata were the top hits at Tennants’ (22% buyer’s premium) auction of scientific and musical instruments and cameras.

This instrument dates from the founding days of one of the world’s most significant aerospace manufacturers: Short Brothers

The prototype B1 Vulcan first flew in 1952 and it is a sign of the design’s longevity and durability that the last of these bombers was taken out of service only in 1984.

The Paris firm of Roullet & Decamps was famous for automata, walking and moving dolls and toys.

Jason Clarke Antiques has for sale at £8500 this unusually large 9in diameter, c.1770, universal equinoctial ring dial by Dollond of London

Georg Merz and Joseph Mahler took over the Utzschneider & Fraunhofer company in 1839.

Early stereoscopic images featured in the collection of a dealer curious about how technology transformed life in Victorian times

The Winter Maritime Sale at Eldreds on February 28-March 1 includes an 18th century Islamic brass quadrant made in the Maghreb region of north-west Africa.

The French anatomist and naturalist Louis Thomas Jérôme Auzoux (1797-1880) set up a workshop making very accurate human and veterinary anatomical models.

The famous firm of Negretti & Zambra was formed in London in 1850 by the Italian-born Henry Negretti and Joseph Warren Zambra

London auctioneer Charles Miller holds his next Maritime and Scientific Models, Instruments & Art auction on April 25