Auctions

The Christopher Foley collection of British commemorative medals will be sold at Salisbury auctioneers Woolley & Wallis on October 16. The sale is the most comprehensive of its type seen for a century or more.

With the Scottish referendum only weeks away, there could hardly be a better time to offer a replica of a reliquary which for centuries was a powerful symbol of Scotland’s national identity.

German-made painted wood Noah’s arks, appealing to folk art and toy collectors alike, don’t get much better than this mid-19th century example sold recently at Brightwells in Leominster.

Sold at Sotheby’s for £900,000 last month was a rare copy of a work that marks the beginning of printing in English.

Highlights from the Coslov collection of English majolica will be on show in London next month prior to their sale at Freeman’s in Philadelphia on October 7.

The opening lots of a recent sale at Reeman Dansie of Colchester comprised a collection of Chinese porcelain which included a rare bowl that was apparently a favourite resting place for the family cat.

When dispersing the contents of an artist’s studio, there is always the question of whether to sell the works all in one go or drip them onto the market over a longer period of time.

There are signs that last year’s publication of ‘The Della Robbia Pottery’ by Peter Hyland has given a lift to the market for the distinctive wares produced in Birkenhead by Harold Rathbone and Conrad Dressler between 1894-1906.

Chichester firm Stride & Sons included two fine Georgian miniatures in their latest sale.

Two drawings of Old Testament subjects by the American-born portrait and history painter Benjamin West (1738-1820) proved the highlight of the latest sale of Old Masters & 19th Century Works on Paper at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions’ saleroom in Mayfair.

The ‘piece of paper’ waved by Neville Chamberlain on his return from meeting Hitler in 1938 must count as one of the most infamous documents in history.

There was huge pre-sale interest from the Far East in this Qing jade table screen at the latest fine art sale held by Tennants of Leyburn.

It’s only recently in the decade-long boom in Chinese works of art that Far Eastern buyers have come to appreciate once again the merits of Export silver. Once a neglected area, academic interest has been piqued in the subject as the marketplace moves in leaps and bounds.

There may have been no internet or TV in the third quarter of the 19th century, but it was possible to find out what the fashionistas of 1867 were wearing at the time.

A massive Coalport Feldspar porcelain jug painted with a study of Earl Spencer’s Durham Ox in a parkland setting has been bought by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

The centrepiece of Anderson & Garland’s sale in Westerhope, near Newcastle, last month was the eclectic Walton Temple collection.

Selborne, Hampshire, auctioneer Hannams produced a YouTube video to promote the presence of this very early key-wind musical box by Nicole Frères in their inaugural sale.

For some years now, Far Eastern buyers have been demonstrating their fascination with so-called ‘sing-songs’ – the elaborate 18th century automaton table clocks made for the Chinese market by paying ever-increasing sums to secure them.

A recent sale at Bamfords of Derby included two outstanding pieces of Chippendale period rococo furniture, both consigned by a local lady who had inherited them from her father.

The most historically interesting entry in Bonhams’ clock sale held in their New Bond Street rooms came from the ten-lot section devoted to marine chronometers.