Believed to be unique, this unusual hand-carved Second World War clock case features a London County Council ambulance being fitted with an engine.
The 12½in (32cm) high clock is also fitted to the reverse with a metal shrapnel handle inscribed Salved from the Guards Chapel, wrecked by flying bomb, Sunday June 18th 1944.
Described as in ‘excellent original condition’ and in ‘good working order’, the clock is guided at £400-600 in William George & Co’s online-only timed auction ending on January 12.
This 15th century gold ducat from the reign of Ferdinand I of Aragon (1380-1416) was discovered on a Cornish beach in 1996. Found by a couple walking their dog, it is likely to have originally come from one of the many thousands of ships wrecked along that coast.
The ducat, which has a mintmaster mark for Giancarlo Tramontano, has been consigned by the family and is guided at £500-800 in Barbara Kirk Auctions’ sale in Penzance on January 17.
This elaborate 3in (8cm) high Victorian silver inkwell and stamp holder was made by EH Stockwell, London, in 1893.
The inkwell, on a gimbal mechanism, is accessible through eight openings, while the sphere has six gilded compartments, each lid inset with a Jubilee issue stamp ranging from 1/2d to 5d.
The piece is estimated at £1000-1500 in Bonhams’ Gentleman’s Library Sale in Knightsbridge on January 19.
More than 4000 model trains and carriages from a single collection kick off the new year at Wright Marshall Fine Arts in Cheshire (in conjunction with Oldham-based agents Ryder & Dutton) on January 11-12.
The contents of the 1350-lot sale span multiple countries including Italy, the US and Japan, and were collected by the late Antony John Adler, a model train collector based in Oldham.
Adler, a solicitor, was inspired to start collecting while sheltering from the rain near a model railway store and thought the hobby may help relaxation.
A highlight is this limited edition Golden Age Models 00 gauge 4-6-2 locomotive, the Sir Nigel Gresley (No 4498), with an eight-wheel tender and in LNER blue livery.
It is guided at £600-1000, with all proceeds from the sale going to charity.
