Auctioneers

Dent and Co is one of the bestknown names in English horology with a long history of precision clock and watch making.

Jewellery from the estate of Ella Naper (1886-1972) was offered at Lay’s (21% buyer’s premium) in Lanner, Cornwall on August 10-11.

The September 12 fine jewellery and watches sale at Adam’s in Dublin is led by a diamond tiara bracelet of approximately 38ct set in platinum.

The north European Mannerist bronze sold for £550,000 against a guide of £250-350 was not the only spectacular sleeper in the August 8 sale at Reeman Dansie (22.5% buyer’s premium).

The September 12 Important Jewellery auction at Hindman in Chicago includes this Art Deco diamond, jade, cabochon emerald and enamel brooch mounted in platinum.

The September 21 sale at Dawsons in Maidenhead includes this Cartier natural sapphire and diamond brooch designed as a single bloom of cherry blossom.

With the traditional hiatus in the UK auction market typically stretching across the month of August, a number of notable picture highlights appeared slightly earlier this summer at sales around the country.

Metal detectorists continue to be the best supply of ancient and medieval jewels onto the market.

Extensive selection of the long-running cricket guides on offer at auction runs up a market test

A favourite ring of Sammy Davis Jr sold at Fellows (25% buyer’s premium) in Birmingham on August 24.

A chalcedony, sapphire and diamond flower brooch by Suzanne Belperron (1900-83) was included in Tennants’ (24% buyer’s premium) Fine Jewellery, Watches and Silver sale on July 15.

The precursor to the Woolley & Wallis Fine Jewellery sale on October 25 is a single-owner catalogue devoted to the collection of Jean Louis Chameroy (1946-2020).

Serpent jewels, symbols of eternity and exoticism, are ever popular and two good examples are on offer this autumn.

By the mid-18th century, as the fashion for the pannier dress reached its peak, some women wore dresses measuring 7ft (2.13m) wide.

A wistful and chatty letter from Charlotte Brontë to her editor William S Williams comes for sale in California on September 7.

Well known for pottery, Sally Tuffin (b.1938) is also renowned for pioneering 1960s fashion as part of the Foale and Tuffin firm.