East Midlands

An original Raleigh Chopper bicycle that may never have been ridden has been sold at Derbyshire saleroom Hansons (25% buyer’s premium) for £1250 – more than double top estimate.

Leicestershire saleroom Gildings is offering an extensive single-owner collection of large-scale model locomotives in an auction which will benefit a life-size steam railway.

This large 16in (40cm) high baluster faience vase, sold by Hansons (25% buyer’s premium) in Teddington, is by ‘father of art pottery movement’ Joseph-Théodore Deck (1823-91).

International Antiques and Collectors Fairs (IACF) kicked off its return to business with its first event after lockdown.

Harry Potter first deemed too scruffy by a public library brings a spellbinding result

The lockdown may have reduced the number of UK auctions taking place but buyers have been looking more eagerly for opportunities at those events that have been staged.

As the implementation of the Ivory Act 2018 draws closer, it is approaching closing time at the last-chance saloon for UK owners who wish to monetise Art Deco chryselephantine sculpture.

A large collection of Bretby Art Pottery formed part of the final day of selling at a recent auction at Hansons’ Bishton Hall saleroom in Staffordshire.

This 8½in (21cm) Delft blue and white tulip vase below is typical in style and form of the De Metale Pot (The Metal Pot) factory.

Shortly before the UK lockdown, Cumbrian saleroom Thomson Roddick (17.5% buyer’s premium inc VAT) offered works from the collection of The Shorthorn Society, a body that promotes the famous breed of cattle in the UK and Ireland.

Sir Oswald Birley (1880-1952) is among the artists most represented in UK public collections. Art UK records 173 works in national museums and institutions, National Trust properties and local museums.

Ken tanto, distinguished by double-edged blades, are one of the rarer styles of Japanese sword. Most were made as Buddhist ritual implements rather than weapons and are decorated accordingly.

The three magazines shown here were all produced by students of the Royal College of Art in the years 1925-27 and sold online for £1000 in a sale at Mellors & Kirk (24% buyer’s premium) of Nottingham.

In May 1875 the British Arctic Expedition under the command of George Nares (1831-1915) set off on a mission to reach the North Pole via the unchartered ‘open polar sea’.

Novelty inkwells such as this one modelled as a miniature six-bolt diving helmet and corselet were made by the Siebe Gorman works in Chessington, south-west London, as promotional giveaways or gifts to staff on employment milestones or retirement.

A rare creamware transfer printed and painted beaker offered for sale by Mellors & Kirk (20% buyer’s premium) in Nottingham told a dark tale.

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.’

“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…”

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.