Auction Reports

Prompted by a series of fatal mining disasters in the 19th century, a Royal Commission in 1907 recommended the establishment of a miners’ rescue service.

A clockmaking industry thrived in the Chew Valley of Somerset in the second half of the 17th century.

William De Morgan considered pieces from the Moonlight and Sunset Suite made in the early 1890s to be his very best work.

Among Gilbert Ledward’s (1880-1960) most admired works is the sensuous nude, 'Awakening' or 'The Awakening', that today stands in Ropers Garden on the Chelsea Embankment.

Other than the growing body of his surviving work, little is known about Robert (or Robart) Mindum.

After the James Macintyre & Co factory was awarded a gold medal at the St Louis International Exhibition in 1904, Moorcroft pottery was sold in the US by a number of boutique retailers including Shreve & Co of San Francisco and Tiffany in New York.

The frame to this Irish mahogany day bed with its bold paw feet and eagle uprights bears both the Strahan name and number stamp as well as an original paper trade label.

When teenagers Mark and Simon Fletcher came across a Victorian ginger beer bottle sticking out of the ground in the garden of their new home at Old Clee, near Grimsby, 40 years ago little did they know that a collecting bug was about to bite.

Bought in 1952 by a semi-pro Skegness musician who played with East Coast seaside entertainers, this steel string guitar got a big show of hands at Louth auction house John Taylors (18% buyer’s premium).

An “extremely rare” gold Thrymsa, or shilling, dating from 640-660 and minted in Northumbria or York, was the highlight of a pensioner’s collection of Anglo-Saxon coins sold at Canterbury Auction Galleries (27% buyer’s premium inc VAT) on October 3.

Antarctic maps take highest prices in collection relating to key Terra Nova crew member

Eye-catching and ear-pleasing, this early example of a monkey chamber orchestra musical automaton picture was one of the star performers at Tennants’ (20% buyer premium) Scientific and Musical Instruments sale.

A group of early 19th century microscope slides mounted with specimens of fossilised wood sold for £11,500 (estimate £1000-1500) to a Canadian private collector at Special Auction Services (25% buyer’s premium) in Newbury.

Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) designed two electroplated claret or water jugs for Elkington & Co of Birmingham in 1885 – both of them daring designs inspired by vessels from antiquity.

Given that most antique furniture at auction tends to be good value only for the buyer these days, one can perhaps understand why it occasionally does not always receive the attention it once merited from auctioneers and valuers. As a result, occasionally a special item slips through.

It was not to high-end purist tastes, but ballet pioneer’s collection reeled in eager bidders

Aided by strong American bidding action, the collection of Andrew Crawforth, the late Portobello Road trader and leading authority on early metalware, turned base metal into gold when all 431 lots – offered wihtout reserve – sold at Bonhams’ (27.5% buyer’s premium) Edinburgh sale.

Underground or overground, London travel memorabilia amounted to a £95,000 hammer total at Catherine Southon (24% buyer’s premium).

Republican plaques bought at Hong Kong dealership take top price in Chinese art sale.

Of such high quality that they justify the description ‘cabinet miniatures’, examples of a small group of silk and metal thread embroideries of Charles I can be seen in the V&A and Wallace Collection in London and in the New York Met.