North-west England

Catalogued as white metal, with no hallmarks, a snuff box included in the silver section at Adam Partridge’s recent sale at Macclesfield caused a stir. The mark it did have was that of the great Huguenot maker, David Willaume.

The so-called Lucerne pattern, decorated in primary colours with a stylised Mediterranean chateau in a landscape, ranks among the scarcest and most desirable of all designs from Clarice Cliff’s ‘Appliqué’ range.

The Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool have an auctioneer to thank for the inclusion of three previously unseen works in the exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Beauty and Rebellion that opened earlier this month.

Leading specialists in antique furniture have joined a campaign to preserve a touchstone collection of Gillows furniture ahead of multiple museum closures in Lancashire.

Items from the estate of Mary Burkett, former director of Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal, attracted great excitement and plenty of competition at Mitchells of Cockermouth last week.

Fancy spending thousands of pounds on a lovely lump of vomit?

An impressive collection of pictures, studio pottery, furniture, personal effects and letters has been consigned to auctioneers Mitchells of Cockermouth from the estate of Mary Burkett, former director of Abbot Hall art gallery in Kendal.

Yellow-ground wares from the Vincennes soft-paste porcelain workshops are great rarities.

This large Burmantofts faience plaque sold for £7000 at 1818 Auctions of Milnthorpe, Cumbria. The vendor, who bought it at a car boot sale for £20, was in the room to watch bidding surge way beyond a £400-600 estimate.

A Chelsea porcelain beaker with blue and white botanical decoration caused a sensation at Peter Wilson latest sale in Nantwich. Estimated at £100-200, it sold at £37,000.

Dreweatts & Bloomsbury have announced two new alliances as they reshape the wider business as part of the Stanley Gibbons Group.

Nantwich auctioneers Peter Wilson set a new house record at their latest sale with this large Qianlong (1736-95) mark-and-period doucai ‘lotus and bats’ jar and cover.

Adam Partridge auctioneers of Macclesfield have been shortlisted for the Green Business Award as part of the 2014 Cheshire Business Awards.

The Association of Accredited Auctioneers (Triple A) are hosting a viewing event timed to coincide with Asian Art in London. This Qianlong ‘lotus and bats’ doucai jar and cover, estimated to bring £100,000-150,000 at Peter Wilson of Nantwich on November 27, is among the lots on view at Rountree Tryon Galleries of 7 Bury Street on November 2 from 12 noon-9pm.

Collector Robin Pinchbeck had never bought a clock before, but when he set his sights on the George I walnut-cased astronomical longcase on offer at Mitchells (17.5% buyer’s premium) of Cockermouth on September 11-12 he knew he simply had to have it.

Logistics and costs are not necessarily high on Ridley Partridge’s agenda, but his dad certainly knows all about them.

There are signs that last year’s publication of ‘The Della Robbia Pottery’ by Peter Hyland has given a lift to the market for the distinctive wares produced in Birkenhead by Harold Rathbone and Conrad Dressler between 1894-1906.

COMMENT - Are children just an irritating distraction to the serious business of appreciating art in a museum or gallery? Is it time to turn back the tide and put adult appreciation front and centre? As the father of two, Antiques Trade Gazette Editor Ivan Macquisten speaks from experience.

A sketch by LS Lowry will be offered at Peter Wilson of Nantwich in Cheshire on May 1.

First seen by auctioneers Capes Dunn in 1987 during an insurance valuation, this pietra-dura table has now been consigned to their next sale.