South-west England

This stoneware bird jar dated 1891 established a new auction record for Martin Brothers when it made £67,000 at the latest Arts and Crafts sale held by Woolley & Wallis.

Abstinence was a ceremonial requirement prior to worshipping the ancestors, the heavens or other deities in the Qing court.

Is this Elkington kettle the earliest provable Christopher Dresser design for electroplated silver?

These tiny Chinese agate carvings jointly estimated at just £200-300 stole the show at Woolley & Wallis’ Asian series when they sold for 500 times the top guide in a packed saleroom in Salisbury.

The 2012 Olympics were the third to be held in London since the modern games were revived in the late 19th century, but in the Cotswolds market town of Chipping Camden they have an annual ‘Olimpicks’ tradition that dates back to the early 17th century.

Maybe I’m biased, but I find it hard to think of a more diverse, passionate, interesting and occasionally downright bonkers bunch of people than antiques dealers.

Pearls and coloured stones remain strong – but, fuelled by interest from China (and, to a lesser, extent, the Middle East), so does amber.

Say the name Sister Wendy Beckett and most people will immediately picture the unique figure of the elderly nun as she tours the world’s art galleries, talking intensely to the TV camera.

The contents of a filling station saved from the bulldozer and then converted into a museum will be offered for sale in July.

Among the most elusive of all Royal Doulton HN series figures is the curious model of a winged cherub astride a crocodilian known simply as ‘Boy on a Crocodile’.

When Evan Maindonald and Raine Thurston bought the struggling Gloucester Antiques Centre in 2007 they ran the occasional antiques fair on the North Quay. Now, the fairs are back – and with a difference.

The best Chinese works of art continue to prosper in the salerooms.

For those with Cornish ancestors or a general interest in the area’s history, David Lay’s sale of Part I of the Pendarve archive on March 26 in Penzance may well be of interest.

Salisbury auctioneers Woolley & Wallis include this George III mahogany striking bracket clock by Robert Henderson, London in their sale on March 26.

Family tradition had it that this Mughal silver spice box was looted during the siege of Delhi in September 1857.

Barbara Kirk’s first auction of antiques, jewellery and collectors items in Penzance will take place on March 19.

This 1½in (3.5cm) Japanese ivory okimono stole the show at Tamylns’ in Bridgwater, Somerset when it sold to a telephone bidder for £13,000.

This 19th century Russian egg forms part of a large collection to be included in Stroud Auction Rooms’ two-day sale on March 13-14 in Gloucestershire.

This image of a young girl cradling a piece of wood for a doll by Cuban photographer Alerberto Korda is believed to have been his favourite claims his daughter, Norka Korda who has consigned a group of fifty-five photographs by her father to Dominic Winter’s sale on March 7 in South Cerney, near Cirencester.

A copy of Charles Dickens’s ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ in the original parts is being offered by Dominic Winter on March 6 in South Cerney, Cirencester.