Newbury

Our weekly selection from salerooms.

The talented Sèvres factory decorator Desire Leroy (1840-1908) came to the United Kingdom in 1878 to take up an appointment at Minton in Staffordshire. However, he is perhaps best known for his work at the Royal Crown Derby where he worked from 1890, aged 50, until his death in 1908.

The practice of placing a metal mark on a building to indicate insurance against a fire started in earnest after the Great Fire of London (1666). Each insurance company had its own fire service and distinctive logo.

It was not catalogued as such, but this silver ring modelled as a standing lion with a gold-coloured mane is designed by Moshe Oved (1885-1958), the owner of celebrated Bloomsbury antique shop Cameo Corner where jewellery expert John Benjamin first learnt his trade.

A sale of Modern First Editions at Bloomsbury Auctions on November 14 includes this ‘near mint’ 1950 copy of Graham Greene’s 'The Third Man and The Fallen Idol'.

Underpinned by an 81-lot consignment from the estate of the late Fred Sansome, a famous figure in the world of model railways, the Transport Sale at Dreweatts (25% buyer’s premium) was led by scratch-built locomotives by equally revered names.

Newbury’s Special Auction Services is to expand into a double-height saleroom in the new year.

Special Auction Services’ (17.5% buyer’s premium) sale in Newbury on July 9 included a wide selection of edged weapons which was topped by a mid-19th century Japanese short sword or tanto estimated at £200-300.

This pair of green stained ivory cufflinks offered by Dreweatts (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) of Donnington Priory was made by Child & Child after a design by the eminent Pre-Raphaelite painter and jewellery designer Edward Burne-Jones.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

These two mahogany library mantel timepieces – for sale at Dreweatts of Donnington Priory in the autumn – were supplied to HM Government by Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy in the early days of Victoria’s reign.

At Donnington Priory on May 23, Dreweatts will hold a sale of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art where this 17th or 18th century bronze ‘dragon’ censer and original stand, with Xuande four-character mark, is pitched at £8000-12,000.

A pair of Worcester dishes of so-called ‘Blind Earl’ form was a best-seller in the ceramics section that opened Dreweatts’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) spring sale.

A drawing by the Indian artist Francis Newton Souza (1924- 2004) which he created on the verge of finding international fame in the 1950s drew intense bidding at a recent Dreweatts (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) auction.

This French mother-of-pearl and gold pin formed as a daisy comes in a fitted box signed for George Fouquet (1862-1957).

Special Auction Services regularly holds sales of photographic equipment cameras and photographs in its Newbury rooms.

Dreweatts’ Modern and Contemporary art sale in Newbury on April 3 will offer a range of Modern British pictures, including a selection of St Ives School group works. However, one of the main highlights in this category is a wartime painting by John Armstrong (1893-1973) which carries an estimate of £20,000-30,000.

Among the most coveted of all the standard Chinese export porcelain designs is the so-called ‘Rockefeller’ pattern or Palace ware.

Probably a puzzle to all but experts in the field, the item shown below is a transit instrument – one of three which all went well above estimates at a cameras and scientific instruments sale held by Special Auctions Services (17.5% buyer’s premium).