East Midlands

The three magazines shown here were all produced by students of the Royal College of Art in the years 1925-27 and sold online for £1000 in a sale at Mellors & Kirk (24% buyer’s premium) of Nottingham.

In May 1875 the British Arctic Expedition under the command of George Nares (1831-1915) set off on a mission to reach the North Pole via the unchartered ‘open polar sea’.

Novelty inkwells such as this one modelled as a miniature six-bolt diving helmet and corselet were made by the Siebe Gorman works in Chessington, south-west London, as promotional giveaways or gifts to staff on employment milestones or retirement.

A rare creamware transfer printed and painted beaker offered for sale by Mellors & Kirk (20% buyer’s premium) in Nottingham told a dark tale.

The London entrepreneur James Cox (c.1723-1800) is best known as a specialist in the intricate clockwork curios encrusted with gold, silver and jewel, referred to as ‘sing-songs.’

“Something awful. Never witnessed anything like it before. After a bombardment of a week the Germans mounted their own trenches and the infantry reckon that every German had a machine gun…”

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Four years ago we featured the Grade-I Listed Cromford Mill at Matlock in Derbyshire, and most specifically antiques dealer David Walsh who had launched the Cromford Mill Antiques Centre on the site.

The artist Henri Jules Jean Geoffroy (1853-1924), known as ‘Géo’, was a member of the French Naturalist movement and was best known for his paintings of Parisian children and daily urban life.

With tripartite appeal to football fans of England, Wales and – most importantly as it turned out – of Millwall FC, a historic shirt was a winner at Hansons’ ( 20% buyer’s premium) sporting sale.

The Fish Footman puppet is among the most sought after of the entire back catalogue of Pelham Puppets.

A single collection of 490 pieces of Moorcroft dating from the 1890s to modern limited editions offered an overall view of the market when sold at Hansons (20% buyer’s premium).

International Autograph Auctions Ltd has ceased trading and is being placed in voluntary liquidation.

While items of Queen Victoria’s clothing are not a rare sight at auction, a collection on offer in Derbyshire proved of high enough quality to attract bidding from a world-famous collection of royal dress.

On first appearance, Hemswell Antique Centres is your traditional dealer collective, only with more space and dealers than any other centre in Europe.

The Omega Seamaster 300 ranks among the most desirable of all diving watches.

Jaguar Fairs is celebrating its 25th year in the business by launching a new one-day midweek outside antiques and vintage fair at Nottingham Racecourse.

Catalogued simply as an ‘African ceremonial tribal spear’ and estimated at £200-300, a Luba staff of office sold for an unexpected £18,500 (plus 15% buyer’s premium) at Gildings’ first sale of the new year in Market Harborough.

The sale at Kingham & Orme (20% buyer’s premium) in Evesham on December 6-7 included the second instalment of the remarkable Shennan collection of silver mustard pots, this time featuring examples made in the reigns of George IV to Victoria (1821-1901).