Auctioneers

The jacket of the 1904 first of Jack London’s The Sea-Wolf shown right is quite obviously in a sorry state – falling apart and with sizeable sections missing all round. It is, however, a jacket previously known only by rumour or talk of ‘one other copy thought to exist’.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Following the wake of the influential 1862 International Exhibition in London (when Japanese art first reached a wide British audience), this tea service below would have been the height of fashion when it was made by Richard Martin and Ebenezer Hall in 1879.

Of all the types of playful drinking cups or trinkspiel made by Dutch and German goldsmiths during the 16th and 17th centuries, the example offered by Sotheby’s in Paris last week was surely the most elaborate.

When Alan Wardle’s niece searched online for family history she uncovered his father’s long-lost First World War presentation pocket watch coming up at auction.

In April this year Spink held an exhibition to mark the centenary of the founding of the RAF, ahead of a dedicated section in its two-day Orders, Decorations and Medals sale the same month.

If anything sums up the sense of slaughter that came from the British experience of the First World War and how that affected so many families, it is a lot coming up in Bonhams’ November 21 Medals, Bonds, Banknotes and Coins auction.

Before the Iraq invasions in 1991 and 2003 Britain was involved in military operations in the region in both world wars.

By contrast to electrical rarities offered in Wiltshire also covered in this week's hammer highlights, the type of mid-19th century library clock shown below is probably the most popular item in the current horology market.

Woolley & Wallis celebrated its 10th £1m-plus lot last week, selling a portrait by Chinese contemporary artist Yang Fei Yun (b.1954) for £1.7m (plus premium). The sitter – the artist’s wife pictured in the early days of their marriage – was in Salisbury to watch the sale.

A Distinguished Flying Cross medal group offered at Stroud Auctions (18% buyer’s premium) on November 7-8 underlines the sometimes rudimentary nature of the embyonic early war in the air.

Personal items from the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking impress among an illustrious array of names.