Cumbria

The salt-glazed portrait jug of Nelson by Doulton & Watts of Lambeth is considered the first character jug made by Doulton

The artist Richard Ernst Eurich (1903-92) is rather hard to categorise.

A Queen’s Gallantry Medal in its case of issue awarded to a police constable who helped to catch two violent escaped prisoners sold for £2400 at auction.

Just as stereoscope images became a Victorian collecting craze, another notable photographic fad of the era was the carte de visite

A rare work of 1767 called A Journal of a Voyage Round the World in His Majesty’s Ship The Dolphin… was offered by Thomson Roddick (20% buyer’s premium) in Carlisle.

A drawing by Sheila Fell (1931-79) offered in Cockermouth showed how strong demand can emerge even for a simple sketch.

The 33 pieces of ‘Mouseman’ furniture on offer at Carlisle auction house Thomson Roddick (20% buyer’s premium) all came from a Cumbrian Georgian country house where they had been since at least before 1950.

The best-selling lot in a recent Carlisle auction was a 1919, Collins first of Heritage, the debut novel of Vita Sackville-West, who at that time was better known for her poetry.

Alex Styles (1922-2017) was in 1966 given a glowing accolade in The Times: “Many think he is the finest designer of hand-made silver in England.”

Enamelled imperial eagle tankards or 'reichsadlerhumpen' – large three or four-litre glass drinking vessels enamelled with the 56 coats of arms and the quaternion eagle of the Holy Roman Empire – were popular from the 16th to the late 18th century.

Shown here is what would be an arachnophobe’s nightmare: one of the 29 hand-coloured engraved plates that illustrate a copy of John Blackwell’s 'History of Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland'.

This pair of English Regency bronze candlesticks in Egyptian revival taste sold for £1800 at Laidlaw (20% buyer’s premium).

Lot sold for multiple-estimate sum in Cumbrian sale relates to a notorious election in Northumberland

An inscription bearing Winston Churchill’s signature and dated 1948 found in a single volume of his famous history of the Second World War that came to auction in Cumbria was believed to be authentic.

Demonstrating how the internet has transformed the market for potential sleepers, three portraits that drew strong interest recently at different auctions in the UK and Europe all sold to online buyers.

Sasha dolls were popular presents in the sixties and seventies and still in demand enough at auction today to hit four figures.

A recent sale held by Thomson Roddick (18% buyer’s premium) of Carlisle, one that included further items of local interest from the library of the late Maurice Cole, was led by one of the newer books on offer.

Glamorous portraits of wealthy women such as Lady Northcliffe command the highest prices

One of the most notable harbour scenes ever to emerge by the Victorian artist William Mitchell (1823-1900) of Maryport was among the lots bringing interest at a recent Mitchells sale.