Auctions

The rare First World War German ship’s bell featured in ATG No 2133 has found a very suitable home – the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

Estimated at £8000-12,000, this rare pair of Meissen figures of red squirrels, c.1750, modelled by J.J.Kändler, took £45,000 at Bellmans auctions of Wisborough Green, near Billingshurst.

The stand-alone evening sale of 15 paintings by L.S. Lowry at Sotheby’s on March 26 raised £13m, with all bar two works getting away.

Images and footage of the First World War seem to be featuring prominently on TV at the moment, no doubt part of the extra attention engendered by the marking of the centenary of the outbreak of the conflict in 1914.

South London auctioneers Rosebery’s sold the Masonic collection of Albert Edward Collins Nice (1898-1969) as the first tranche of their quarterly fine art sale that covered three days and three catalogues.

Sotheby’s have had to buy back the 59.60 carat flawless fancy vivid pink diamond they sold in Geneva last November for a world record $83m.

A packed saleroom and a continuous barrage of phone bids combined to ensure a near sell-out, multi-estimate result at Sotheby’s in Paris for their three-session auction (in association with Artcurial) of the collection of Félix Marcilhac.

The British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA) has revised its policy for sales of duplicates following controversy surrounding last July’s Sotheby’s auction.

Theophilus Jones, a private in the Durham Light Infantry, achieved the unfortunate distinction of being the first soldier to be killed on British soil during the First World War.

This Charles II eight-day longcase clock by Joseph Knibb – a ‘snapshot’ of early longcase clock development – doubled its estimate to sell for £240,000 at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions sale in Donnington Priory.

A sketch by LS Lowry will be offered at Peter Wilson of Nantwich in Cheshire on May 1.

A rare early work by the Dutch Old Master painter Dirck Van Delen (c.1605-1671) will be offered at Halls of Shrewsbury on April 16.

This 13in (33cm) Macintyre & Co Florian ware vase dated to 1898 and designed by William Moorcroft is going under the hammer at Catherine Southon’s sale in Surrey.

Auctioneers Bellmans will include a pair of Meissen squirrels, modelled by J.J.Kändler and dated to c.1750 in their forthcoming sale.

First seen by auctioneers Capes Dunn in 1987 during an insurance valuation, this pietra-dura table has now been consigned to their next sale.

A de Havilland Tiger Moth II will star in Holt’s next sale in London.

This Worcester mug c.1754-55 proved the highlight of the Raymond Dennis collection of early English porcelain sold by Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury.

This picture by CRW Nevinson (1889-1946) is being offered at the Spring Fine Art Sale being held by Tennants in Leyburn, North Yorkshire on March 28-29.

The commercial fortunes of Victorian silver ‘castle top’ card cases, engraved or embossed with views of British landmarks, depend primarily on the scarcity of the scene depicted.

Christie’s has announced a major consignment of Old Master drawings which will be offered over the next two years in a series of sales in London, Amsterdam and Paris.