A group of letters sent from a clipper ship captain in Shanghai during the Second Opium War (1856-60) to his sons in the Charlestown area of Boston resounded with bidders at Merrill’s Auctioneers (21% buyer’s premium) in Williston, Vermont on November 3.

Pictured here are two fine 19th century presentation copies that, unexpectedly, topped sales in South Cerney and Cambridge in October.

Although originally trained as a goldsmith, Dirck Van Rijswijck (1596-1679) developed his own characteristic style using less rarefied material.

An exceptional silver Breguet hump-backed carriage clock commissioned by car maker Ettore Bugatti topped Bonhams’ latest Fine Clock Sale.

Decorative Highland dirks from the late 19th century, often mounted in silver and set with cairngorms, appear for sale with some frequency.

Our selection of 12 lots from upcoming UK auctions

An album of watercolour studies of Ottoman ceramics that connects two of the British collectors of the early 20th century raced away from its estimate at Dominic Winter in Gloucestershire.

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

Although this small oil sketch that surfaced at Oxio Paris (24% buyer’s premium) in Saint-Ouen on November 19 was catalogued as by ‘Howard Hancock’, the signature is clearly that of David Howard Hitchcock (1861-1943).

Sixth instalment of single-owner collection on offer in west London features wonderful workshops

This silver and enamel vase by Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927), the great master of Japanese cloisonné, sold to an English collector for £11,000 at Halls (24% buyer’s premium).

A fine pair of 18th century English chairs sold for $120,000 (£100,000) in Asheville, North Carolina, on November 16-18.

In Chinese symbolism, three goats shown together are representative of the New Year, bringing a change of fortune (sanyang kaitai).

Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) arrived on the Amalfi Coast in 1923 and ultimately created more than 100 works there based on the landscape.

Created in the late 1920s by Spanish aeronautical engineer Juan de la Cierva (1895-1936), the autogiro entered service in the late 1930s.

Catalogued simply as an ‘ornate Chinese plaque’ and estimated at $600-800, a Qing lacquer and porcelain panel hammered for a remarkable $440,000 (£359,000) at Regency Auction House in Rockaway, New Jersey.