Auctions

It had previously been thought that Daniel Fahrenheit only ever made two of the original mercury thermometers he invented in 1714, both of which are in the collection of the Museum Boerhaave, in Leiden in the Netherlands.

It was the emergence of the very useful but somewhat hazardous ‘strike anywhere’ match in the 1830s that necessitated the fashion for vesta cases.

Wine labels from the old and celebrated Sandeman collection provided 63 lots to Woolley & Wallis’ sale in Salisbury last month.

Scarborough saleroom David Duggleby posted a house record for furniture when a suite of oak Arts and Crafts furniture from the workshop of Cotswold School cabinet maker Peter Waals (1870-1937) sold as a single lot for £31,000 at their latest auction.

The Contemporary art market rose to a new level last week as both Sotheby’s and Christie’s saw record sales in New York.

Modern firsts from the library of Clive Hirschhorn produced plenty of strong and many record prices at Bloomsbury Auctions but a number of significant works did not sell. As such, this was an important sale for illustrating the vagaries of the market.

The wide-ranging McKee Collection of Staffordshire figurines will feature in McAfee Auctions, November 23, in Ballymoney, County Antrim.

Spink are to offer the Indian Mutiny Victoria Cross awarded to Sergeant Major (later Lieutenant) Peter Gill of the Loodiana Regiment for saving the life of an officer and his family at Benares and seeing off 27 mutinous Sepoys with only his sergeant’s sword, on June 4, 1857.

Bonhams’ Chester rooms will offer the Michael Boorer Pewter Collection on November 22, providing an opportunity for pewter collectors to bid for items used in pubs 300 to 400 years ago.

This Football Association of Wales 1893-94 Season green velvet cap with braided gilt wire tassel and embroidered dragon, will appear in the November 21 sale at Halls of Shrewsbury.

This DFC medal group of a British Spitfire pilot who survived the war despite crashing and being given up for dead by his colleagues has an estimate of £8000-10,000 in Plymouth Auction Rooms’ November 21 sale.

This silver Art Deco trophy is one of the lots in the Cotswold Auction Company’s Vintage Costume, Textiles and 20th century Decorative Arts sale on November 20 in Cheltenham.

Making the most amount of money ever seen for a Contemporary art auction, Christie’s evening sale on November 14 made a staggering $363.5m (£237.6m) hammer.

One of fewer than 40 known examples in the world, this Jacobite Amen glass sold at the latest sale held by Halls of Shrewsbury.

The latest Impressionist & Modern Art sales in New York saw generally selective demand as bidding failed to take off on a large proportion of the works on offer.

At the tender age of 15 young ‘Bob’ Wroughton became the world’s first Boy Scout, and had a glittering career of success in front of him. Yet just seven short years later, he became one of the first to die in the killing fields of the First World War.

Spink have announced that they are to offer for sale a very rare Richard III Angel found near the site of the Battle of Bosworth in Leicestershire.

This 19th century silver ostrich made in Hanau is among the highlights of Matthew Barton’s auction offering silver, ceramics and jewellery at London’s Blythe Road on November 20.

This Lalique car mascot has been consigned to the Tennants of Leyburn sale on November 16-17 by the great-niece of the chauffeur of the car on which it was originally mounted.

Printed in German, this Judaica booklet relates to the siege of Prague by the Prussians led by Frederick the Great in 1757.