Features

Not only was this Robert Wallace Martin (1843-1923) stoneware ‘face’ jug deemed an excellent example of its type, but it was sold with a hand-written letter to David Oxen Esq, the original buyer of the jug in 1914.

In 1897 Charles Francis Annesley Voysey agreed a contract with Alexander Morton and Co to provide designs for a minimum of 10 textile designs each year for five years.

A selection of upcoming lots focusing on stand-out items from two key design movements

Designed by George Tinworth, c.1885, this Doulton Lambeth spill vase commemorates the first transatlantic phone call between the UK and the US.

Relatively little is known about the German-born artist and designer Elsa Tennhardt (1899-1980).

A recent sale at Claydon Auctioneers (21.5% buyer’s premium) in Buckinghamshire included a suite of aluminium bedroom furniture by the HG Hawker Engineering Company.

The Swinton Estate, which spans approximately 20,000 acres of North Yorkshire, has been in the Cunliffe-Lister family since the 1880s.

Pulling out a suitcase from under a bed during a probate valuation, Dawsons’ valuer could scarcely have guessed what they would find hidden inside.

Of numismatic interest in the Swinton sale were two George VI silver seal matrices made for the County Palatine and the Duchy of Lancaster.

This medieval (probably 14th century) small bronze cauldron or posnet is a recent detecting find, dug late last year in a field in Norfolk.

Much of the market for ‘country house’ antiques is now in the hands of UK’s regional auctioneers. Here we review two recent bellwether sales.

In October Christie’s conducts a timed online sales series titled Collections.

Chairs and sofas by Howard & Sons are a pricey niche market these days, largely immune to the varying fortunes of the wider market for Victorian and Edwardian furniture.

Exhibited in New Bond Street over the summer, Bonhams’ auction titled The Greatest Show: The Fairground World of Ross Hutchinson was held over two days earlier this month: 150 lots at a live auction on September 10, with a further 150 through a timed online sale concluding the following day.

Such is the size of the ‘museum of collectables’ formed by the British toy designer Patrick Rylands, Hansons (26.5% buyer’s premium) in Derbyshire is selling the array in five separate auctions.

A single-owner collection of clocks, timepieces and scientific instruments formed over 60 years went under the hammer at Fellows (25% buyer’s premium) in Birmingham on September 4.

Whether it is a collection accumulated by a family often over generations or amassed through the efforts of an individual, such sales can deliver big results - especially now for regional auction houses winning consignments

Lance Corporal James Smith of the Military Mounted Police, formerly of the Northumberland Fusiliers, survived the First World War but it was a moment of danger after the conflict that earned him a special honour.

In November, Spink of London will offer a Spitfire pilot’s Battle of Britain group of eight awarded to Warrant Officer (later Squadron Leader) Ernest Mayne, No 74 (Tiger) Squadron, RAF.

A collection of cinefilms belonging to Brigadier Dudley Clarke (1899-1974), a key figure behind British military deception operations during the Second World War, was sold by Chiswick Auctions (26% buyer’s premium) on August 7.