Auctions

As a general rule prices for most pairs of Staffordshire dogs, the quintessential Victorian fireside ornament, have dipped markedly in the past generation.

Plates from a documented mid-19th century Sèvres dessert set sold for £36,000 at Golding Young & Mawer in Grantham on April 6.

A hitherto unrecorded set of four late 17th or early 18th century marble seasons statues took £230,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Summers Place Auctions in West Sussex on March 29.

Bound in blue cloth with a large embossed design to the upper cover and bearing a gilt-framed and lettered title, ‘Private Journal’, to the spine, a volume offered by Cadmore Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) was estimated at just £10-30.

Paintings by Old Masters bear fruit as new artist auction highs are set in Parisian sales

Knowledgeable bidders spot a design by Owen Jones on offer in North Yorkshire

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 Blickensderfer Typewriter Co of Stanford, Connecticut, introduced the Niagara ‘index’ typewriter in 1902.

A couple of elegant portraits from the collection of Professor Bernard Nevill (1930-2019) drew keen interest at Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium).

While the market for post-war wares by Thompson’s of Kilburn – particularly the animal and figure carvings – has grown substantially in recent years, the ‘prime period’ for Mouseman collecting remains the 1920s-30s.

Pictured and described here are six very different lots that formed part of a March 2 sale held by Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium).

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

Cats were represented in the social and religious practices of ancient Egypt for several millennia.

This rare creamware cylindrical tankard is printed with a copy of A Cudgelling Match between English and French Negros in the Island of Dominica by Agostino Brunias (1730-96).

Whereas buying at fairs often involves a heavy dose of serendipity, buying at auction tends to be a more focused and considered affair.

This view of the Mer de Glace and the Grands Charmoz at Chamonix was one of two large-scale dramatic paintings of Alpine mountainscapes by Gabriel Loppé (1825-1913) offered in Artcurial’s (26/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) March 23 Old Masters sale. Both had remained with the artist’s family.

A number of portraits of women from different periods of history were among the most contested pictures at sales around the country in the early part of this year.

Bid to £2800 in a recent Norfolk sale was a detailed and now rare Map of the Parish of St Mary Abbotts, Kensington… dating from 1879.

A selection of 13 upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.