Auctions

Beijing-based auction house China Guardian is reported to be launching a sales programme in Hong Kong this autumn.

A rare blue and white version of William De Morgan’s design of a kingfisher catching a fish while perched on a branch appeared at the latest Arts & Crafts sale at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury.

Dealer, collector, author, military historian – Shamus Wade amassed the remarkable collection of toy soldiers and figures which was recently sold at Special Auction Services of Greenham, near Newbury.

Documented in the book ‘The Allure of Toy Ships: American & European Nautical Toys from the 19th and 20th Centuries’, the Richard T. Claus collection is widely acknowledged as the best toy boat collection in America and, some say, rivals the very best in Europe.

Among the clocks sold in London this summer, there were some of the glitziest and most expensive timekeepers to go under the hammer in recent times, many of them made for the Chinese market.

On July 31, Capes Dunn’s Northern Artists sale in Manchester will include ‘Woman Walking’ by L.S. Lowry (1887-1976).

A small collection of railwayana from the estate of the late Stephen Crook, a Carlisle-based collector and railway photographer, will be included at Thomson, Roddick & Medcalf’s sale on August 2 in Carlisle.

This Titanic postcard has been consigned to White Star Line specialists Henry Aldridge & Son to be included in their sale on July 28 in Devizes, Wiltshire.

A pair of 19th or early 20th century Chinese porcelain fish bowls found in a barn on the grounds of a local country house are on sale at Reeman Dansie’s two-day auction on July 31-August 1 in Colchester.

This stunning pair of 19th century blue john pedestal urns was the outstanding star at Tennants’ £1.8m summer sale at Leyburn.

This Saturday, Provenance Auction House of Cape Town will sell the first instalment of an extraordinary collection of 300 bells formed by the late Keith Blumgart.

In 1922, Beatrix Potter, with her most famous little books already behind her, was persuaded by Anne Carroll Moore of the New York Public Library to produce a book of illustrated nursery rhymes.

Among the best Modern British pictures offered at Lawrences of Crewkerne on July 6 was Edward Burra’s (1905-76) ‘Funfair’, which was consigned from a good local collection barely 24 hours before the catalogue went to press.

Three pictures of London Zoo, produced within a few years of its opening to the public, were sold by Lawrences of Crewkerne on July 6.

This summer’s ‘Temps Fort’ sales in the French capital have thrown up an usually strong contingent of sculpture.

The outstanding lot at the latest three-day sale at Bonhams Chester was this extremely rare c.1680 tankard.

What could well be the largest binoculars ever produced, this one-off commission was consigned to Cirencester auctioneers Moore Allen & Innocent following a house clearance in Cheltenham.

Bloomsbury Auctions will offer 42 original pencil sketches by American novelist Norman Mailer at their July 19 sale in London.

In keeping with this year’s jubilee celebrations, a collection of 10 photographs of King George VI and his immediate family, including Queen Elizabeth II, will be offered at Charterhouse Auctioneers on July 26-27.

This Eglentine Metal sign has never come to the open market before but is on offer among about 250 lots of advertising including showcards, packaging, mirrors and over 300-400 enamel signs to be sold at The Chippenham Auction Rooms on July 21.