West Midlands

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.

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).

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

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).

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.

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

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.

It was scenes of pleasure boats at Lytham St Anne’s on the Lancashire coast like the one shown below that Lowry’s mother supposedly favoured over her son’s darker industrial scenes.

This mid-19th century oil of a bare-knuckle prize fight is thought to depict a famous bout between Victorian boxers William Perry (1819-88) and Tom Sayers (1826-65).

Moseley Antiques Emporium south of Birmingham city centre is closing after more than 25 years in business.

Not all the posters making four figures at auction fall into the usual Star Wars/James Bond/Hammer/early horror bracket.