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Considering that W Britain began making his revolutionary hollowcast toy soldiers only in 1893, a set dating from just three years later certainly deserves the tag ‘early’.

Two lots offering heraldic manuscripts – one of them being of particular regional interest – produced the highest bids in a mixed sale of collectables and militaria held in Shrewsbury.

Known familiarly as the ‘Audley End Lydgate’, the mid-15th century vellum manuscript shown below is ‘The Fall of Princes’, a Middle English version by the poet John Lydgate of Laurent de Premierfait’s French translation of Boccaccio’s De Casibus virorum illustrium.

Christie’s executive Dirk Boll told delegates at the Art Business Conference that the decorative arts could be coming back into fashion.

The UK government will ensure that ivory regulations are balanced and with “appropriate exemptions”, the new minister for arts, heritage and tourism told the Art Business Conference last week.

It’s fair to say the work of Victorian animal painter Sidney Cooper (1803-1902) is not flavour of the month.

Our round-up of British and Irish book sales coming up from September 11-21, 2018.

An unpublished letter written by Nelson Mandela from his prison cell on Robben Island is to be offered at Bonhams’ South African sale in New Bond Street on September 14.

The art and antiques trade were warned to be ready for the new money-laundering regulation coming into force next year.

“Isn’t it possible that the Irish could be just as brilliant in the visual arts as they have been in music and literature?”

Chicago auction house Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) is conjuring up quite a reputation for its magic memorabilia sales.

In an increasingly complex marketplace, how should auctioneers and dealers charge for their services?

Plenty to interest European buyers was available at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries (17% buyer’s premium) in Maine on August 25-26.

A classic French René Lalique perfume bottle was on offer at Virginia auction house Jeffrey S Evans on August 24-25 from the collection of the late Joan M Wentz, Germansville, Pennsylvania, which had been amassed over 50 years.

Three modestly valued works in regional sales, all sold below £700.

This bronze sculpture by Louis-Albert Lefeuvre (1845- 1924), Les Fondeurs du Moyen Age, was one of the highlights of a single-owner collection sold by Alderfer Auction in Hatfield, Pennsylvania.

MADAM – I read the letter from Gavin Littaur (ATG No 2355, August 25) and the letter of the previous edition from Nick Silver (ATG no 2354, August 18) with more than a little puzzlement.

UK dealers buying foreign silver, overseas bidders taking British work and generally solid interest for traditional pieces of mid-ranking silver brightened up the normally quieter late summer sales across the country.

Two obituaries from the art and antiques trade.