Canterbury

An eastern European picture that commanded bidding at a recent UK regional auction was a trademark painting by Polish artist Jan Lebenstein (1930-99).

Peter Cushing’s (1913-94) six-decade acting career featured more than 100 films furnished many fond memories – and of course provided plenty of memorabilia.

Sold at the high-estimate £3500 at a Kent auction was a German facsimile edition of the Lindisfarne Gospels.

Henry Lee Shuttleworth (1882- 1960) worked for many years in the Indian Civil Service.

Air Commander J Searby had a key role to play in the Peenemunde Raid targeting the V weapons factory during the night of the August 17-18, 1943, as part of the RAF’s elite Path Finder Force.

Forty years after he began identifying Victorian rubbish heaps then digging in them, a Kent collector’s faith in the saying ‘where there’s muck there’s glass’ was vindicated when fellow enthusiasts demolished estimates on scores of his old bottles.

A small collection of the works of TS Eliot offered in a Canterbury Auction Galleries (22.5% buyer’s premium) sale of August 6-7 included what appears to have been a 1943, first US printing of his 'Four Quartets'.

The Crimean War inspired many Staffordshire flatback figures - including this rare model made to mark the end of the conflict in 1856.

A Victorian sapphire, diamond and pearl brooch-pendant was one of two pieces with Indian roots offered for sale at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium).

Try original advertising artwork if you want to capture the atmosphere of an era.

This 1930s pencil and gouache for the Lawn Tennis Championship Meetings was a poster design for London Underground.

An example of the work of northern artist Norman Cornish (1919-2014) appeared down south at Canterbury Auction Galleries (22.5% buyer’s premium).

Qing period embroidered satin throne-back cushion covers can be seen still in situ in a number of the buildings in the Forbidden City including the Hall of Supreme Principle and the Palace of Eternal Spring. Others are held by institutions and collectors throughout the world.

With the unusual provenance of having been dug out of a London sewer during excavations in 1930, the 15th or early 16th century copper alloy candlestick shown here underlined the truth of the maxim that where there’s muck there’s brass.

The mouthwatering kitchenalia collection of Annie Marchant (1951-2020) certainly served up a treat when it came to auction on April 12-13.

Collection offered in Canterbury recalls the bizarre family life of Stanley Spencer

Estimated at £200-300 in a Kent sale, a military commission that bears the signature of King George III and is additionally signed and endorsed by William Pitt the Elder, Britain’s prime minister at the time of the Seven Years War, sold online instead for £7500.

A painting of apple blossom by the Austrian Impressionist Olga Wisinger-Florian (1844-1926) drew a five-way online bidding battle at Canterbury Auction Galleries (24% buyer’s premium inc VAT) on August 1.

This 12in (39cm) Portobello pottery plaque piece, c.1820, is a rare piece but one known in a number of different colour variations.

In 1765 the engineer and entrepreneur Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) visited Paris, where he observed first-hand the workshops of bronziers and the wares that were proving hugely popular with Georgian Britain’s elite.