Cambridge

The eclectic collection of the late antiques dealer Eila Grahame continues to provide Cheffins of Cambridge with exceptional material. The latest works that have been unveiled are two drawings by Alberto Giacometti (1901-66) which will be offered at auction on October 12.

Martians land in Surrey and terrorise much of southern England in tripedal war-machines equipped with death-rays before finally succumbing to terrestrial bacteria. That, put very simply, is the story line of HG Wells’ 1898 novel, ‘The War of the Worlds’, an apocalyptic vision that retains an iconic place in the realms of science fiction.

A recently rediscovered Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) painting has been bought by the Fitzwilliam Museum from dealer Daniel Katz.

A keen buyer at Cheffins’ Art & Design sale helped set two auction records for British artists Eileen Lucy ‘Tirzah’ Garwood and Evelyn Dunbar.

Auction house Lawrences of Crewkerne is no stranger to stand-out objects from China after a remarkable vase sold at 150-times its estimate in January.

A comic picture book issued by Fores in 1842 and titled ‘The Brother to the Moon’s Visit to the Court of Queen Vic’ would appear to be a great rarity, and a copy offered by Cheffins of Cambridge on February 22 made a much higher than predicted £1900.

One challenge that auctioneers face is whether to sell a collection as a whole, or in several different groups, or individually. Finding the right strategy is vital to getting lots away with decent prices.

A group of three Doccia porcelain dishes from c.1740-45 sold for £70,000 at a stellar sale at Cheffins in Cambridge.

The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge hopes to raise the final £65,000 needed to buy a 17th century gilded mirror frame for its collection.

An impressive and richly decorated pair of early 17th century gilt bronze and pietre dura inlaid Italian cabinets, which stood in Castle Howard, Yorkshire for two and a half centuries, have been saved for the Nation by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

When Stephen Drake of Willingham Auctions discovered a 3000-year-old Egyptian coffin cover in a house clearance on the Essex coast, he was amazed.

A massive Coalport Feldspar porcelain jug painted with a study of Earl Spencer’s Durham Ox in a parkland setting has been bought by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

Seventeenth century Dublin trefid spoons are extremely scarce. Last year a single rat-tailed example by Andrew Gregory, 1685, sold for €9000 at Adams of Dublin.