Lyon & Turnbull

One of the more unusual lots that I have encountered in recent times is a piece of card bearing the only known example of Mahatma Gandhi’s fingerprints.

The rarest Scottish provincial town marks, known only from spoons and ladles, are those of Stonehaven, Ellon and Keith.

The central stone to this Art Deco seed pearl and diamond pendant is an elongated cushion-shaped pink sapphire, weighing about 25ct.

Among a glut of upcoming single-owner collections on offer from Scottish and Irish salerooms, Glasgow firm Great Western Auctions will sell items from the estate of curator, dealer and writer William ‘Bill’ Hardie (1941-2021) later this month.

Rare market appearance by a Sir Henry Raeburn work heads a special report on recent Scottish highlights

Charles Carroll’s printed copy of the Declaration of Independence – discovered earlier this year in a Scottish family home – sold at auction in Philadelphia for $3.7m (£2.85m) plus premium.

An unusual number of high prices for pictures has been recorded outside London this season.

Gavin Campbell (1851-1922), the 7th Earl of Breadalbane, was a prominent society figure and Liberal politician in the Gladstone administration but is best known in collecting circles as the owner of a vast array of silver.

This huge porcelain breakfast service was made to welcome Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on their first visit to Scotland in 1842.

Extensive cross-section of design-themed objects offered in Edinburgh and London by same auction house

Lyon & Turnbull’s Lalique sale had been displayed at the Mall Galleries in London with posters from the Shell Heritage Art Collection as a backdrop.

The Five Centuries sale at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh on May 20 included a sensational example of medieval art – a 14th century French gothic ivory casket or coffret.

This Fijian kava bowl, or daveniyaqona, carved in the form of a shallow figure, would have been used for both the consumption of kava (yaqona – the intoxicating liquor of the pepper plant) by priests during religious rites and to hold sacred oil.

London’s art world between the wars was a surprisingly diverse community.

Lyon & Turnbull’s May 14 sale in London includes this flambe glazed pear-shaped bottle vase that carries a Qianlong mark and may be of the period.

On April 29, Lyon & Turnbull, in partnership with poster specialist Tomkinson Churcher, will present Design on the Move: Selected Posters from the Shell Heritage Art Collection.

Talented amateur artist enjoyed riding excursions with the author to antiquarian sites