UK

In the early 1930s, following the closure of its ironstone mines, unemployment in the east Cleveland region of North Yorkshire reached a harrowing 90%.

Asian Art in London announced the winners of the first group of its awards last week.

A microscope used by Joseph Banks (1743-1820) on Captain Cook’s first Voyage of Discovery (1768-71) is going under the hammer estimated at £30,000-50,000 on November 1.

Despite wider economic uncertainty, prices for LS Lowry (1887-1976) seem to keep on rising.

The sale of Silver and Objects of Vertu at Bonhams Knightsbridge on October 20-21 was topped by a multi-estimate bid for a remarkable flatware service by Tiffany.

A Chinese jardiniere once used as a fish bowl by Horace Walpole (1717-97) is to return to his Strawberry Hill home.

Charles de Temple is much admired as a key figure in the British 1960s modernist movement – one of the designers who ushered bold and abstract jewellery to the forefront of fashion.

Leading the sale of Fine Furniture, Works of Art & Clocks at Woolley & Wallis (25/12% buyer’s premium) in Salisbury on October 6 was a very fine pair of blue john and ormolu perfume burners by Matthew Boulton and John Fothergill.

Samantha and Richard Payne-Withers run two antiques centres in Bridport, a Dorset market town which offers quite a choice of antiques and vintage shops.

The sale at The Auction Centre (20% buyer’s premium) in Runcorn, Cheshire, on September 30 included this rare George III Scottish silver member’s badge for The Edinburgh Skating Club – the world’s first figure skating organisation.

A number of pictures from another single-owner collection caught the eye at Dreweatts a month earlier than the Flaxley Abbey auction.

Translation was first time a major poem of antiquity appeared in an English language form.

The three-day fair welcomed renowned photojournalist for a swish magazine showcase.

Among the most desirable of all ‘Prattware’ transfer printed wares are the series of very rare and highly decorative advertising plaques produced for firms such as Crosse & Blackwell and Huntley & Palmers.

Naive artworks that can also suit modern decorating taste are rising in popularity and price.

Bid to £3400, a 1703 first edition of Martin Martin’s Description of the Western Islands of Scotland in a later full calf binding proved the most expensive item in the 250-lot book and ephemera section that opened an October 5-7 auction at Stride & Son (18% buyer’s premium).