West Midlands

This portrait that emerged at the March 18 auction at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) of Shrewsbury appears to be closely based on Sir Peter Lely’s (1618-80) portrait of Mary II as a young girl that now resides in the Royal Collection.

This vessel with its cluster of bottles around a central conical vase is one of several well-known Dresser-Linthorpe models that owe a debt to pre-Columbian art.

A gold winner’s medal awarded for the 1893 FA Cup – Wolverhampton Wanderers’ first major trophy – sold for £8000 at Mullock’s (20% buyer’s premium) on April 29-30.

A self-portrait by the hitherto little-known Modern British artist Michael Gilbery (1913-2000) sold for a record £10,700 at auction in Lichfield last week.

Well before the darker Batman film versions of directors Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan there was a more innocent era of Batman on the big and small screens.

Made within 20 miles of Halls’ (23% buyer’s premium) Shrewsbury rooms, 76 lots of mid to late-18th century Caughley soft paste porcelain from two local collections attracted countrywide bidding.

The photograph seen at bottom right is a group of Chinese men convicted of spying and awaiting “…execution by Imperialists”.

Brought into Wolverhampton firm Cuttlestones (17.5% buyer’s premium) on a valuation day, this early-19th century anti-slavery tobacco box sold to a UK bidder on thesaleroom.com for £480.

Held over three pre-lockdown days on March 5-7, Evesham saleroom Kingham & Orme’s (23% buyer’s premium) auction was rich in the best of English and European decorative arts.

Self-portraits are among the earliest prints that Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69) made, accounting for a large portion of his etching output when he was in his 20s and living in Leiden.

An unusual late Victorian silver pocket watch by Herbert Blockley of London sold for an unexpected £2800 at Potteries Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Stoke-on- Trent.

The Wimshurst influence machine, an electrostatic generator capable of creating high voltages, was developed between 1880-83 by British inventor James Wimshurst (1832-1903).

A very early railway guide, still in the original decorative boards, was a rare and unusual lot in a recent held by Mullock’s (20% buyer’s premium).

The minaudière, a case for storing several personal items in a small space, first appeared during the 1930s.

There was no shortage of desirable names among the 1370-lot Fine & Decorative three-day sale at Kingham & Orme (23% buyer’s premium), such as Charles Ashbee, Omar Ramsden, Lalique, Christopher Dresser and William de Morgan.

The best-seller lists these days will always include a good number of explosive memoirs written by special forces veterans and their heroic stories usually also mean high interest at auction.

Bosleys has launched a new format for its auctions, including a move from Marlow to Staffordshire.