Auction Reports

Engraving on Tiffany pepperette reveals the provenance as a princely present in 1879

Found in a cigar box during an attic clearance and taken to Exeter auction house Bearnes, Hampton & Littlewood (25% buyer’s premium), seven framed daguerreotypes in poor condition provided one of the better sleepers of the year on November 22-23.

Found by head of department Catriona Smith in a box of mixed jewellery, this rare 16th or 17th century gold ‘toadstone’ ring came for sale at Sworders (25% buyer’s premium).

Commissioned by the 'Illustrated London Times' to document the construction of the mighty Great Eastern, the young photographer Robert Howlett (1831-58) took some of the most famous images of ship’s designer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59).

A very fine Victorian butterfly collection formed between c.1880-1920 was offered by Minster Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Leominster on November 24.

A fine First World War silver presentation model of the Vickers FB5 or Gunbus made by Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company (London 1916) was sold together with two related photographs plus a copied letter of provenance at Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium).

The final proof coin set bearing Queen Victoria’s portrait was issued by the Royal Mint in 1893.

Shelley first introduced the geometric Vogue and Mode shapes in 1930 – both the designs of Eric Slater who had worked at the factory since the end of the First World War.

The Birmingham silversmithing firm of Hukin & Heath received the approval of the progressive (if slightly pompous) writers of The Furniture Gazette when it signed a big name to produce some of its designs in 1878.

Ingenious design sold at auction involves a wind-out mechanism and extra pieces to fill

More than 20 yards of Morris & Co fabric and two Howard & Son chairs were among a group of lots consigned to auction in Wiltshire with a provenance to Haselbech Hall, Northampton, and the Bower Ismay family.

A pottery has stood in the Welsh village of Ewenny for five centuries but, with a few exceptions, the collecting market does tend to focus on the decorative slipwares produced under the influence of the Arts & Crafts movement.

The most desirable of the varied wares produced by the small ceramics factory established by Vilmos Zsolnay (1828-1900) in the south-west Hungarian town of Pecs are those created after the 1890s.

Lalique glass and Travel & Vintage Posters (conducted in partnership with specialist firm Tomkinson Churcher) were offered at a recent Lyon & Turnbull (26% buyer’s premium) auction at the Mall Galleries.

British Modernist designer’s inter-war plywood creations are now seen as pioneering works

Walter Crane (1845-1915) designed seven red lustre vases for the Shropshire tile makers Maw & Co of Jackfield in 1889.

Sixteenth century single folio manuscript displays orgiastic spree in graphic detail

Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) was another of the London salerooms that held a designated sale in Islamic week.

Estimated at £800-1200, this Regency giltwood and ebonised convex wall mirror sold at £12,500 at Toovey’s (24.5% buyer’s premium) on November 3.

This German brown leather and plated metal hip flask has the inscription 'Fur Kaiser John Zu Seinem Geburtstag 9. Okt 1960 Von Stu'.