Features

This collection of 10 carnelian intaglios carved to depict classical figures and scenes once formed part of the collection of Prince Stanislas Poniatowski (1754-1833). His past possessions are always of interest to collectors.

This Grand Tour-era ring sold at Great Western Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Glasgow features an unusual banded carnelian intaglio carved with a putti holding the leg of a large grasshopper.

Topaz in its natural state is a golden brown to yellow, a characteristic which means it is sometimes confused with the less valuable gemstone citrine.

A recent Stroud Auctions sale featured a private collection of more than 120 pieces of Georgian and Victorian jewellery. Most were rings, among them many examples of mourning jewellery in a wide range of forms and materials.

Three Victorian bangles were among the most popular lots of Dreweatts’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of Fine Jewellery, Silver, Watches and Objects of Vertu.

The London entrepreneur James Cox (c.1723-1800) is best known as a specialist in the intricate clockwork curios encrusted with gold, silver and jewel, referred to as ‘sing-songs.’

Interest from bidders in more than 40 countries competed for what Stroud Auctions (18% buyer’s premium plus VAT) called a “world-class private collection of over 4000 military badges”.

Bosleys has launched a new format for its auctions, including a move from Marlow to Staffordshire.

The Church of England was Geoffrey Garner’s vocation in life – collecting military badges his hobby

“Something awful. Never witnessed anything like it before. After a bombardment of a week the Germans mounted their own trenches and the infantry reckon that every German had a machine gun…”

The Crimea medal awarded to one of only two officers taken prisoner by the Russians during the calamitous Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854 sold for £14,000 at London saleroom Dix Noonan Webb (25% buyer’s premium).

Four military maps encompassing Siam (Thailand), Hong Kong, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia took an unexpected £3700 at the Peter Wilson (22% buyer’s premium) Arms, Militaria, Medals & Firearms auction earlier this year.

The best-seller lists these days will always include a good number of explosive memoirs written by special forces veterans and their heroic stories usually also mean high interest at auction.

Before British female nurses could even help with the wounded they faced a battle to be accepted, as the story behind a medal winner reveals.

This flag offered at East Bristol Auctions (18% buyer’s premium) carries inscriptions for HMS Swiftsure – British Pacific Fleet – 1945, and the Japanese cities Sasebo and Tokyo.

A First World War medal fashioned from a Mexican eight reales coin was an unusual feature of a group sold at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (23% buyer’s premium) on February 19.

The 33rd edition of TEFAF Maastricht is the largest yet, building on the formidable foundations already laid but with a suite of updates aimed at maintaining the fair’s impressive reputation

Our selection of highlights from this year’s TEFAF Maastricht

In the latest in a series of updates on the new regulation to stop money laundering, Antiques Trade Gazette provides another round-up of guidance and tips for the art market.

Three individual profiles of first-time exhibitors at TEFAF Maastricht 2020: Runjeet Singh, Stuart Lochhead and Aline Chastel.