Hansons

Marked for Savage & Lyman, Montreal, c.1855-60, this silver tankard was awarded to British bare-knuckle boxer Tom Sayers.

Pedal cars are regular visitors to salerooms but rarer powered versions were also produced for children to use, partly for road safety training

Still a figure of glamour 450 years after her execution, Mary Queen of Scots was reputed to have embroidered the c.16th century fragment of bed curtain sold at Hansons (25% buyer’s premium) at Etwall on December 7.

Sixteenth-century globes rarely appear on the market. So, Jim Spencer, Hansons’ works on paper specialist, had been amazed to encounter one at a valuation day in Bishton Hall, Staffordshire.

Amassed by the headmaster of one of Britain’s finest public schools, the Silk collection of Staffordshire portrait figures provides a fillip to an overlooked market

A humble table tennis bat bought at a car boot sale in Surrey for £3.50 served up a surprise at Hansons’ (25% buyer’s premium) London monthly auction on September 25.

Derbyshire auction house Hansons (25% buyer’s premium) sold memorabilia this summer worn by two Manchester United favourites of different eras: George Best and David Beckham.

A pair of early 19th century Staffordshire pearlware figures modelled after bare-knuckle boxers Tom Cribb and Tom Molineaux who fought for a ‘world title’ of sorts is estimated at £3000-5000 in Tennants’ Autumn Fine Sale on November 13 in Leyburn.

Post-war and Contemporary art is increasingly boosting revenue at regional salerooms

Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) designed a number of daring light fittings for his architectural projects – all of them rare and desirable objects.

It was second time lucky for a 17th century ring made to commemorate the death of King Charles I.

New York sale maintains run of high JK Rowling prices while Dr Seuss surfaces also in UK

Such is the recent appeal of dolls’ house accessories that you do not even need the ‘house’ to put them in, it seems.

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.

A group of naive oils found boxed up during a house move drew strong interest at Hanson Holloway’s Ross (25% buyer’s premium), making a combined £36,000.