London

Though incomplete and in a decorative 19th century binding, a very desirable early Bible impressed at Chiswick Auctions (25/12% buyer’s premium).

The 1826 £5 piece was the highest denomination in the coinage of the George IV and was not issued for general circulation. The epitome of Regency design, the reverse features the royal shield while the obverse designed by William Wyon features the bare head portrait.

With ski season on ice for so many, exhibitions offering snowy scenes could fill in

Dix Noonan Webb’s highest-priced lot of 2020 was this Crimean War Naval Brigade Victoria Cross group of four sold for £240,000 on October 15. The estimate was £120,000-160,000.

This William and Mary Five Guineas piece from 1693 features conjoined busts of joint monarchs.

Among the highlights of the year at Spink was a group of 17 medals awarded to Air Vice-Marshal Sir Matthew Brown ‘Bunty’ Frew (1895-1974).

After striking a few coins in both gold and silver which were still closely related to Byzantine and Sasanian prototypes, ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam, the fifth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 685-705AD (65-86H), made a clean break with the pre-Islamic past and introduced a completely new gold coinage in 77H.

Starting his collection with a 1568 sixpence purchased in Swanage in 1957, marine insurance broker Christopher Comber (1944-2019) formed a remarkable collection of Elizabeth I coins.

Shapero Rare Books has launched a new Islamic department, broadening its collections of books from the Arabic, Ottoman, Persian and Indian worlds.

The Medals, Orders and Decorations sale at Morton & Eden in November featured two Victoria Crosses awarded during the Indian Mutiny. They sold to the same buyer for a combined hammer price of £300,000.

This silver penny struck for Ludeca, a short-lived king of Mercia who ruled from 826-7, was found at Combe Bissett, Wiltshire, in 2016.

This Queen Anne (1702-14) five guineas piece from 1705 sold for £220,000 (estimate £100,000-120,000) to top the Stratos collection of English gold coins offered by Spink on September 15.

The Maas Gallery, well-known specialist in Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and Modern British pictures, is moving to larger premises in St James’s.

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

The first successful attempts at producing soft-paste porcelain in France took place in the city of Rouen during the closing decades of the 17th century.

As with many events, this year’s Mayfair Antiques & Fine Art Fair was unable to go ahead in its usual format at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square.

A 350-lot sale of items from the collection of Lady Mountbatten including jewellery, furniture, paintings, sculptures, books, silver and ceramics will be offered at Sotheby’s on March 24.

Two beautifully illustrated, illuminated and finely bound manuscripts offered at Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) featured the works of Edmund Spenser.

This Karamojong headrest from Uganda was one of more than 100 objects offered at Tribal Art London’s (TAL) online event, Spirit Animals. It was sold by tribal art specialist Kezhia Field for £450.