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This Chamberlains Worcester yellow ground beaker-shaped vase c.1802, painted with a figure emblematic of Fame and supporting a miniature of Admiral Lord Nelson to commemorate the battle of the Nile, appeared at Law Fine Art on May 22 with an estimate of £4000-6000, having been consigned by a “Middle England” collector.

Painter Albin Burt’s customised copy of an otherwise standard textbook, a two-vol., 1817 edition of Stewart’s Elements of the Natural History of the Animal Kingdom, contains extensive manuscript additions and hundreds of original illustrations to add to the basic 12 engraved plates.

THIS unrecorded portrait by John Constable, estimated to make up to £80,000, was discovered by East Anglian auctioneer and fine art broker John Vost during a routine valuation at a house on the Suffolk/Norfolk border.

Fare dodging is a chronic problem on public transport. But in 19th century America it was the passengers who had to keep an eye on the authorities, not the other way around.

eBay sellers dealing in collectables are getting lower prices and having fewer successful auctions than a year ago, according to a study by AuctionBytes.com. The results were similar to those found in a separate analysis by TIAS.com.

At the eleventh hour, manuscripts purporting to be undiscovered music and poems by “America’s first native-born composer” were withdrawn from ,b>Freeman’s of Philadelphia May 16 books and manuscripts sale. Why? Evidence had surfaced that the archive was a sophisticated forgery.

Yahoo will close five of its auction sites in Europe and instead promote eBay’s competing auctions as part of an agreement the companies announced on last week.

THE seven medals and insignia right are a stirring memento of one of the greatest moments in British military history. They are the service medals and awards, including the G.C.B and K.C.B of the Order of the Bath, Netherlandish Military Order of William and Russian Order of St Vladimir, presented to General Sir Peregrine Maitland.

With the bulk of the 377 lots at the Grantham rooms of Marilyn Swain (15% buyer’s premium) on April 10 being fairly mediocre, the late Victorian mahogany and satinwood Tous Les Louis Exhibition quality kneehole writing desk, right, was always going to shine out.

THE ongoing calls for a ban against fox hunting have failed to dent the popularity of hunting and equestrian pictures at auction. Cecil Aldin (1870-1935) and Snaffles (Charlie Johnson Payne) (1884-1967) are just two of the artists for whom demand is strong and after Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959) it is Lionel Edwards (1878-1966) whose work is taking consistently high prices in the salerooms.

Major photograph sales are usually confined to London and New York salerooms, but since selling the Earl Craven family archive of daguerreotypes last year Bearne’s of Exeter (buyer’s premium 15 per cent) are now on the international circuit.

With the bulk of the 377 lots at the Grantham rooms of Marilyn Swain (15% buyer’s premium) on April 10 being fairly mediocre, the late Victorian mahogany and satinwood Tous Les Louis Exhibition quality kneehole writing desk, right, was always going to shine out.

SOTHEBY’S results for the first quarter of 2002 show a 20 per cent drop in revenues – no great surprise following September 11 and smaller London Impressionist and Contemporary sales.

The defence and relief of Mafeking (1899) in the Boer War has a particular resonance in British history, and three Victoria Crosses were awarded for valour during the action. As a result, medals from this action generate more than usual interest.

CHRISTIE’S established 15 new auction records at their Rockefeller Centre saleroom on the evening of May 14 with a $42.1m (£29.9m) sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art.

More Renaissance items came up at Arsantiqva (15% buyer’s premium) at the Westbury Hotel on April 19 with the first of three tranches of material relating to the serene city of Venice.

THIS rugby and football memorabilia sale of just over 500 lots was not one of the specialist sporting auctioneer’s most spectacular outings, dominated as it was by paper ephemera rather than expensive medals and silverware, but the turn-out and take-up were as strong as ever.

PRE 1921 the Poole pottery firm, one of the most innovative of the 20th century British potteries, was known as Carter & Co. Headed up by Jesse Carter, the firm produced very few domestic wares focusing instead on tiles and architectural and garden ceramics.

Sir John Lavery R.A. (1856-1941) is one of the hottest names in the booming Irish picture market and back in 1998 The Bridge at Grez, a large oil on canvas, took a record £1.3m at Christie’s London.

THE jewellery and vertu at Tennants’ sale was led by a pair of 2ct diamond ear studs at £9200 but more eye-catching among the vertu was this forerunner of the Swiss Army knife, right.