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Believed to have been in the same family since new, a rare 19th century Jules Steiner doll and her trunk of clothes demolished the estimate at a wide-ranging sale at Lawrences (22% buyer’s premium) at Crewkerne on November 16.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Paul Garner of Garners Antiques has a showroom in Rutland which offers art, antiques and British handmade furniture.

Bram van der Stok MBE was not only the most decorated aviator in Dutch history and one of just three men to successfully flee POW Camp Stalag Luft III in the ‘Great Escape’, but also a proud member of the Caterpillar Club.

A toy engine offered at North Yorkshire saleroom Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) sold for what is thought to be a new world record for a Hornby Dublo locomotive.

This very rare bear shown below made a very high price for such a small fellow – just 14cm (5½in) high.

It is 40 years since 19th century potlids were the collectables of choice but there is still a very active market for them.

Written just a year before his death in 1955, a famous two-page letter in which Albert Einstein put down his thoughts on religion, his Jewish identity and his own search for the meaning of life sold for $2.4m (£1.89m) in a New York auction on December 4.

Literary high spots of a Bonhams (25/10/12% buyer’s premium) sale of November 27 included a three-volume, 1813 first of Jane Austen’s 'Pride and Prejudice'.

A c.1900 gold and enamel Archibald Knox (1864-1933) necklace is among the items lent by Anthony Bernbaum of The Peartree Collection for an exhibition at the Manx Museum.

MADAM – As someone who has been dealing in early furniture for over 50 years and who has served on vetting committees for the Grosvenor House and BADA fairs as well as having been a consultant for Sotheby’s, I find TEFAF’s decision to exclude dealers from their vetting is frankly bizarre.

On Friday, December 7, Michael Bloomstein of Brighton was paying the following for bulk scrap against a gold fix of: $1241.20 / €1070.56 / £972.98

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Illustrated here are some of the oldest lots ever auctioned – three in the Evolution Sale at on November 20 at Summers Place Auctions (25/20% buyer’s premium) of Billingshurst, West Sussex, and the other from Fonsie Mealy (23% buyer’s premium inc VAT) of Castlecomer, Ireland, in a sale held on the same day.

The festive season is upon us. And as art market tradition dictates, this means a generous helping of Old Masters.

Keith Richards Antiques brings a selection of early 20th century silver modelled on historic pieces to the first 2019 staging of The Cotswolds Decorative Antiques & Art Fair at Westonbirt School.

Dealers spend a lot of time and thought on the catalogues they bring out to showcase stock – here is the first in an occasional series looking at recent examples covering a range of art and antiques.

Originally given as presents to infants, early dolls, rocking horses and even board games can now inspire passions among collectors far surpassing the delight of children on Christmas morning and far exceeding most doting parents’ budgets.

A rare rocking horse by one of the top 19th-early 20th century makers, FH Ayres of London, left quite a lot to be desired but raced away at Adam Partridge’s (15% buyer’s premium) Macclesfield sale on November 23.

Musicians from different generations provided sound results at Suffolk saleroom Bishop & Miller (19% buyer’s premium).