Exeter

If this painting of a farmhouse in Brittany seems reminiscent of a piece of French Impressionism, that’s probably no coincidence.

A December 6 auction in Exeter was dominated by a lot estimated at just £40-60 but sold instead at £24,000.

ATG talks to two collectors exhibiting works The Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery in Exeter

Found in a cigar box during an attic clearance and taken to Exeter auction house Bearnes, Hampton & Littlewood (25% buyer’s premium), seven framed daguerreotypes in poor condition provided one of the better sleepers of the year on November 22-23.

A clutch of good-quality traditional landscapes exceeded hopes at Exeter saleroom Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (25% buyer’s premium).

A selection of Doulton HN series rarities sold at three regional salerooms this month.

Among the lots catching bidders’ eyes in the last few months were a number of intriguing portraits that came up at sales in south-west England.

The Summer Sale at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood in Exeter on July 13-15 includes this mid-Victorian colour change sapphire and rose-cut diamond pendant.

Translating simply as ‘a box with drawers’ but so much more exotic than that, a rare Spanish Renaissance caja con cajones was the outstanding lot at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood’s (25% buyer’s premium) quarterly fine art sale in Exeter.

RAF Wing Commander Terence Helfer’s Distinguished Flying Cross citation stated: “He has undertaken many hazardous missions…”

A handsome group of eight volumes commemorating the Great Exhibition of 1851 sold in Exeter had been presented to one of its commissioners, England’s serial Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone.

A copy of Richard Hakluyt’s 'The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation' takes a six-figure sum at Devon sale.

Antarctic maps take highest prices in collection relating to key Terra Nova crew member

Chinese trick or surprise cups were made to deceive a drinker and illustrate the classical paradigm that modesty brings gain and arrogance results in loss.

Walter Sickert and Winifred Nicholson feature in Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood's picture sale.

Naive-style Cornish art has been on a good run at regional auctions over recent months.

Bid to a far higher than predicted £1000 in a recent West Country sale was a broadside whose lengthy title read: 'Life, Trial, and Execution of T.Cooper. Who was executed at Newgate this Morning for the Murder of Timothy Daly, a Policeman, at Highbury.'

“It’s been heart-breaking to keep cancelling fairs as people are so keen to trade but the good news is that our event in the Westpoint Arena at the Devon Showground, Exeter, is going ahead on Saturday and Sunday, June 5-6,” says Nick Bayliss of Continuity Fairs.

Memorabilia relating to members of a pioneering elite group of female pilots who flew in the Second World War soared over estimates at two auction houses.