Features


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Cistern used for wine doubles up as racing trophy

22 April 2024

A substantial piece of Edwardian silver which has served both as a wine cistern and a racing trophy was the most expensive piece of silver in Tennants’ (24/20% buyer’s premium) dedicated auction of jewellery, watches and silver.

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Tortoise novelty silver could be a sound purchase

22 April 2024

A table bell was among the more sought-after lots in a dedicated 200-plus lot silver sale held by Roseberys (26/25/20% buyer’s premium) on March 20.

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Bowls both with links to influential designer Dresser

22 April 2024

These two pieces share a common Aesthetic-movement style and a link to the influential and avant-garde designer Christopher Dresser

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Barehead spoon boasts early date

22 April 2024

A highlight of Anderson & Garland’s (25% buyer’s premium) recent silver sale was a particularly early and rare North Country seal top spoon.

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Rich pickings in the Cotswolds

22 April 2024

It was a piece of modern design that led Kinghams’ (25/18/15% buyer’s premium) latest dedicated sale of silver and objects of vertu.

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Dealer Florence Evans takes the pick of Pillitz

22 April 2024

Until late last year, few people involved in the Modern British art market, even veteran dealers, had ever heard of Hedwig Pillitz (1896-1987).

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Dressed to kilt: a super sporran

22 April 2024

This early 20th century 10in (25cm) long sporran impressed in Edinburgh at Franklin Browns (18% buyer’s premium).

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Wonders produced worldwide in a west London silver sale focus

22 April 2024

London auction shows the collecting appeal and opportunities for silver produced beyond Europe

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Original phrenology models turn heads at auction

15 April 2024

Ceramic phrenology heads have become ubiquitous following numerous reproductions. However, original 19th century models are much harder to come by.

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Photographic viewing device can operate all day and night

15 April 2024

The invention of the megalethoscope by the Swiss-Italian optician and photographer Carlo Ponti greatly enhanced the experience of viewing photographs.

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Rare British camera emerges from Viennese source

15 April 2024

Austin Farahar, head of cameras and photography at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium), was recently contacted by a budding documentary photographer in Vienna who had received a collection of old cameras from his in-laws.

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Rock on with a jukebox purchase

15 April 2024

Perfect to impress your friends and family – or annoy them – many vintage jukeboxes can be bought at auction for three or four figures depending on age, model and condition.

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Slot machines provide all the fun of the seaside even in rain

15 April 2024

Once ubiquitous in British seaside resorts in their day, many pre-war amusement arcade machines are now so rare that just a handful are recorded.

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Medieval astrolabe finds its way to a London saleroom

15 April 2024

The astrolabe was used for not only telling the time, but mapping one’s location, tracking the stars, and even as an astrological tool for decision-making.

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Goniometer going, going, gone at £2700

15 April 2024

This Victorian lacquered brass device made by Elliot Brothers of London is a reflecting goniometer.

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Science & technology: Collectors who know their type

15 April 2024

Knowledgeable bidders generated high prices for early typewriters at German technology specialist’s latest sale

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Botanical group features in Battle auction action

15 April 2024

Twenty-six lots in the Science, Natural History and Curiosities sale at Burstow & Hewett (20% buyer’s premium) in Battle were previously owned by local botanist and entomologist George West.

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Wurlitzer organ on a whirl in Staffordshire saleroom

15 April 2024

Around 28 American-built Wurlitzers were originally transported to Britain from 1925 until just before the Second World War.

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Steaming ahead but in safety thanks to lanterns

15 April 2024

Although easily mistaken for railway or ship lamps, this pair of brass and iron lanterns were made for a road locomotive: the steam-driven traction engines that were some of the first powered vehicles to travel on Britain’s highways.

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Microscopes under bidder focus in UK and US auctions

15 April 2024

This aristocratic survivor from the ‘brass and glass’ era of microscope making, a version of Powell & Lealand’s famous ‘No 1’ compound monocular and binocular microscope, is dated 1898.

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