East of England

Just three copies of the 1640, first English edition of Nicholas Machiavelli’s short treatise on political leadership have come to auction in this century, the last of them in 2005.

At their country house sale on July 10 in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex auctioneers Sworders will include 11 lots from the collection of Mary Jakeman, a lady’s maid to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his wife at the turn of the 20th century.

Lockdales of Ipswich are probably best known as coin and militaria specialists but, having moved premises earlier this year, they have also offered some stand-out items in their fine art and antiques sales in 2012.

A very rare medieval jug, originally sold at Sotheby’s but then put on display by a Luton museum after a successful appeal to keep it in the UK, has been stolen.

Sworders’ Spring Country House sale in Stansted Mountfitchet on April 24 included a remarkable collection of pieces designed by Augustus Pugin for his own Ramsgate home.

Two suspects have been charged in connection with the theft of 18 Chinese hardstone carvings worth millions of pounds from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge on April 13.

CHINESE hardstone carvings worth millions have been stolen from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

WHILE London auctions saw a 25% rise in value for 2011, sales outside the capital have also been growing.

THIS large, 18in (45cm) high, London-made brass lantern clock, c.1660, proved the highlight of the recent single-owner estate sale conducted by Durrants of Beccles.

THE Great Bed of Ware is to be loaned by the V&A, for the first time since its acquisition in 1931, to the Ware Museum.

“THERE shall be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm, and one measure of ale and one measure of corn – namely, the London quart.”

THE first sale at new premises for Ipswich auctioneers Lockdales, now at the former officers’ barracks in Martlesham Heath, included two pieces of silver and enamel ware of the type associated with the Solvychegodsk region.

THIS alabaster sculpture by Barbara Hepworth (1903-75), entitled Two Rotating Forms II and dated to 1966, began the new year in style for Sworders.

Lowestoft porcelain specialist and Suffolk auctioneer Russell Sprake marked 50 years in the auction business last month with perhaps his finest ever sale – and a record price for the factory at auction.

MANDER Auctioneers of Clare in Suffolk have moved to new larger premises three miles down the road at Lower Road, Glemsford, CO10 7QU.

THEY may look plain and simple, but this pair of silver wall-hanging candle scones had private and trade bidders clamouring to buy when they came up for sale last week at Colchester auction rooms Reeman Dansie.

ONE of the rarer acts of peace-time bravery saw the crew of the airship R33 awarded the Air Force Medal.They included George Ernest Long, whose medals and associated ephemera came up for auction at Lockdales of Ipswich on March 27.

ON the evening of Tuesday, March 1 thieves broke into Willingham Auctions and stole four fruit-decorated Royal Worcester vases.

INTERNATIONAL Antique and Collectors’ Fairs have applied to Epping Forest District Council for planning consent to hold three one-day fairs this year at the North Weald Airfield, near Epping in Essex, one of the UK’s most heavily populated counties.

THE Cecil Higgins Art Gallery & Bedford Museum have secured this unique piece of furniture at a price of £850,000.