Auctions

A Chinese blue and white dish recognised by bidders as a fine example of bleu de Hue porcelain flew to $26,000 (£20,500).

A printing of George Washington’s 1795 Thanksgiving Day proclamation sold way above hopes at Sarasota Estate Auction (23% buyer’s premium) in Florida.

Richard Potter (1783-1835) is considered the first successful stage magician born in the US and African-American celebrity.

The Royal Doulton figure Guy Fawkes designed by Charles Noke was issued as HN98 from 1918.

Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s offered notable works by French artist Hubert Robert (1733-1808) at the latest Old Master auction series in New York.

ATG’s pick of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com, featuring both the highest prices over-estimate and the top prices paid online.

The British and US postal clerks aboard transatlantic liners had the duty of sorting the mail during the passage.

A faience dinner service that belonged to the famous French novelist George Sand sold for €7000 (£5980) at the Rouillac (24% buyer’s premium inc tax) auction on February 10.

The Barbier-Mueller family is well known as a collecting dynasty, especially for its ethnographic art.

Lalique, the epitome of inter-war glamour, took centre stage at the Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) Design sale.

Market shows strength only for select works as sourcing high-quality material proves inceasingly difficult

The most eagerly contested lot at the Echoes Antiques & Auction Gallery (23% buyer’s premium) sale on January 23 was a Japanese cloisonné miniature teapot bearing the mark of the great Namikama Yasuyuki.

The murder of William Weare in the Hertfordshire village of Radlett in 1823 has been called the first trial by newspaper. It was also the first subject in the ‘crime and punishment’ series of earthenwares that proved curiously popular in the Victorian era.

With clients including the Maharajah of Kutch, Queen Victoria and multiple princes and dukes, Holmes & Co was one of the top coachbuilders of the 19th century.