Decorative Art

One of the rarest of all of the 31 car mascots made by Lalique between 1925-31 came up for auction at Kinghams in the Cotswolds.

A recent sale at Bentley’s (19% buyer’s premium) in Cranbrook, Kent included a rare US Presidential lifesaving medallion.

With their cross-over collecting appeal to the automobile market, Lalique 'bouchons de radiator' – car mascots or hood ornaments – assume their own price levels.

The British Hallmarking Council (BHC) is to raise concerns with the government about the impact of Brexit on antique gold and silver exports into the EU.

This 6½in (16cm) Irish silver gilt chalice dating from c.1480 is a rare survival from before the Reformation.

The overall performance of the latest London sales of Old Master pictures and ‘important’ works of art was fairly mixed but the auction houses did at least welcome the return of some big-ticket items.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

A set of remarkable wine glasses that had remained in the same family since the 18th century was one of the highlights among quality items in two sales.

A Pilkington’s vase that fetched an auction record for the Lancastrian Pottery last month has sold to a friend of the factory’s decorator Gordon Forsyth (1879-1952), who created the rare piece.

Back in 1990, following a famous and much-repeated Henry Sandon valuation on BBC Antiques Roadshow, a late 17th century slipware owl jug and cover was acquired by the Potteries Museum in Stoke-on-Trent for £22,000.

These two teapots – among the top-selling lots at the Woolley & Wallis (25/12% buyer's premium) sale of English and European Ceramics and Glass on June 16 – came for sale from the family of Lady Kate Davson, known to many by her maiden name of Kate Foster (1938-2020).

A single coffee can from the Baltic Service was among the highlights of Hansons’ (25% buyer’s premium) sale on June 9, selling to a collector at £2000.

Some exceptional pieces of Lowestoft featured in Bonhams’ (27.5/25% buyer’s premium) sale on June 23 – many of them from a single vendor.

This splendid Leeds pearlware horse, c.1810, was one of two offered at Christie’s (25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) on June 8 as part of a sale that combined property from seven titled vendors.

European ceramics from renowned US collector come to the New York rostrum.

As recently as a decade ago relatively little attention was paid to Iraqi niello silver.

Mallams’ (25% buyer’s premium) Jewellery, Watches and Silver sale included this Commonwealth silver wine goblet.

Bernard De Leye has been trading in silverware since 1977 and has been a regular participant at major antiques fairs in Belgium and France for many decades.

A new record for the Pilkington’s Lancastrian factory was set by Moreton-in-Marsh firm Kinghams.