North-west England

Theodolite and telescope made to high standards measure up in two salerooms

The British Toy Auctions (18% buyer’s premium) sale on January 8 in Runcorn included several Pelham Puppets rarities.

A collection of English pottery offered by Adam Partridge (20% buyer’s premium) in Macclesfield included this early 19th century copper lustre and transfer printed ‘anti-slavery’ mug.

Petrol-themed enamel signs do not get much better than that made to promote British Dominions Empire Motor Insurance in c.1912.

Once dismissed as a mere Hans Coper follower, the studio potter is now in rising demand

The surprise lot at Thomson Roddick (18% buyer’s premium) was one in which the principal attraction may well have been a penny broadside of 1826.

Estimated at £800-1000 at Adam Partridge (20% buyer’s premium) but sold at £10,000 was this International Watch Company Luftwaffe pilot’s watch, c.1940.

Pictured below are two textbook Kangxi (1662-1722) period blue and white vases.

Gold pin awarded to Second World War Polish pilot later executed after the Great Escape

A recent sale at Byrne’s (17.5% buyer’s premium) in Chester included 22 lustre wares by the Staffordshire art potter and chemist Bernard Moore.

This textbook William and Mary longcase clock is from the workshop of Joseph Windmills, one of the finest clockmakers in late 17th century London.

It was not in the best of conditions, but an unusual cartographic lot in an August 6 sale at Thomson Roddick (17.5% buyer’s premium) of Carlisle sold at £420.

A Beatles-themed sale held by Cato Crane (28% buyer’s premium) in Liverpool last month included architectural souvenirs from St Peter’s Church in Woolton.

A Military Cross group awarded to a soldier who carried a fallen comrade through fierce gunfire in Iraq sold at £36,000 (plus 20% buyer ’s premium) in Macclesfield on September 11.

Dealer Benjamin Aardewerk has been in the trade for more than 25 years. He is the husband of Holly Johnson who recently opened a new showroom in Knutsford.

A group of three watercolours depicting Indian scenes attributed to Major General John Brownrigg Ballasis (1806-90) attracted interest at a timed sale held this summer by 1818 Auctioneers (20% buyer’s premium) in Milnthorpe, Cumbria.

This 7in (18cm) Satsuma 'koro' is modelled in the form of a 'yoroi bitsu' (Samurai armour storage box) with the 'kabuto' (traditional Japanese helmet) forming the lid.

Featured in Previews, ATG No 2449, was an amusing illustration of the Vacuum Tube, a proposed new means of mass transport from the pages of the Glasgow Looking Glass, a publication that has come to be widely regarded as the world’s first comic.