Decorative Art

An impressive collection of pictures, studio pottery, furniture, personal effects and letters has been consigned to auctioneers Mitchells of Cockermouth from the estate of Mary Burkett, former director of Abbot Hall art gallery in Kendal.

A group of 32 ancient gold ornaments have been returned to China following claims they had been illegally removed.

Paperweights from makers such as Caithness, Mdina, Selkirk, Wedgwood and Whitefriars go under the hammer at auctioneers Moore Allen & Innocent in Cirencester on August 7.

A silver medal awarded to a lifeboatman who rescued sailors from a sinking ship in hurricane-force winds off the Kent coast in 1891 is to be sold at Canterbury Auction Galleries.

Yellow-ground wares from the Vincennes soft-paste porcelain workshops are great rarities.

This rare Irish provincial silver punch strainer took £14,000 at Lawrences’ latest sale in Crewkerne. Dated to c.1740-60, it is struck twice for Joseph Johns, one of only a handful of silversmiths working in Limerick in the middle of the 18th century.

A previously unpublished book of ceramic designs that could shed new light on the work of Dr Christopher Dresser goes on public view for the first time during a three-day festival celebrating the life and work of the Victorian designer.

The two outstanding blue dash chargers offered at a recent sale held by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood in Exeter form part of a small but distinctive group of early 18th century delft dishes boldly painted with a variety of quirky bird, animal and figure subjects.

This Italian baroque bronze depicting ‘Ganymede and the Eagle’ by Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1656-1740) proved the highlight of Lyon & Turnbull’s recent sale in Edinburgh.

This large Burmantofts faience plaque sold for £7000 at 1818 Auctions of Milnthorpe, Cumbria. The vendor, who bought it at a car boot sale for £20, was in the room to watch bidding surge way beyond a £400-600 estimate.

A 20-piece Nantgarw dessert service has sold for £20,000 at Campbells of Worthing. It was consigned on behalf of a titled lady.

This 5in (12cm) high pair of Victorian salts in the form of kangaroos made by Bond Street silversmiths Hunt & Roskell sold for £18,000 at Catherine Southon’s latest sale at Farleigh Court Golf Club near East Croydon.

Like many an antiques dealer, Mark Griffin of Arbatel Antiques lives something of a double life.

It has the highest-ever estimate placed on a work of art at auction. Predicted to fetch ‘in the region of $140m’, Christie’s are offering Pablo Picasso’s ‘Les femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’)’ in New York on May 11.

Two large 18th century gold medals depicting events from the reign of Catherine the Great sold for spectacular sums at Duke’s latest auction in Dorchester.

Discovered in a pile of objects waiting to be tipped at a routine house clearance, a pair of large ceramic plaques will be offered at Gary Don in Leeds this week.

A Chelsea porcelain beaker with blue and white botanical decoration caused a sensation at Peter Wilson latest sale in Nantwich. Estimated at £100-200, it sold at £37,000.

Potteries Auctions in Staffordshire are offering this large William Moorcroft exhibition vase at their second auction in their new premises in Silverdale on April 25.

This Tiffany Studios c.1905 table lamp proved the highlight of Denhams’ recent fine art sale in Horsham, Sussex. It was an unusual visitor to the UK regional saleroom.

Sales of coins and medals at UK auctions have doubled in value over the past decade to £44.7m.