As a general rule prices for most pairs of Staffordshire dogs, the quintessential Victorian fireside ornament, have dipped markedly in the past generation.

Plates from a documented mid-19th century Sèvres dessert set sold for £36,000 at Golding Young & Mawer in Grantham on April 6.

A hitherto unrecorded set of four late 17th or early 18th century marble seasons statues took £230,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Summers Place Auctions in West Sussex on March 29.

The Blickensderfer Typewriter Co of Stanford, Connecticut, introduced the Niagara ‘index’ typewriter in 1902.

While the market for post-war wares by Thompson’s of Kilburn – particularly the animal and figure carvings – has grown substantially in recent years, the ‘prime period’ for Mouseman collecting remains the 1920s-30s.

Cats were represented in the social and religious practices of ancient Egypt for several millennia.

This rare creamware cylindrical tankard is printed with a copy of A Cudgelling Match between English and French Negros in the Island of Dominica by Agostino Brunias (1730-96).

Whereas buying at fairs often involves a heavy dose of serendipity, buying at auction tends to be a more focused and considered affair.

A selection of 13 upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.

Auction house Dix Noonan Webb (DNW) will be shortening its name to Noonans from the end of April.

An Isnik fritware tile familiar to ATG readers made its second visit to the saleroom last week.

During the Meiji period, the Kyoto artist and entrepreneur Nishimura Sozaemon (1855-1935) used Western mechanised weaving techniques to develop new styles of Japanese decorative textiles.

Teapots made in delftware were never particularly functional nor popular in either England or the Netherlands.

The Kent artist William Stephen Tomkin (1861-1940) is best known as a proficient watercolour painter of marine subjects and a draughtsman who worked for General August Pitt Rivers (of Oxford museum fame) between 1882-90.

Eight different colourways of the classic Whitefriars Banjo vase were offered in a single-owner private collection at Tennants (22% buyer’s premium).

The Five Centuries sale at Lyon & Turnbull (25% buyer’s premium) featured items from Borders property Kimmerghame, Duns, home of the Swinton family.