North-west England

Most surviving 17th century brown salt glaze vessels were made in Germany, typically in Frechen, close to the city of Cologne.

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.

As antiques businesses prepare to reopen across the country, Holly Johnson Antiques is set to launch a new showroom in Knutsford, Cheshire.

Seven lots by celebrated local artist Percy Kelly (1918-93) put in a decent performance at the most recent Antiques & Fine Art sale held by Cumbrian saleroom Mitchells (22% buyer’s premium).

More previously unrecorded porcelain attributed to the John Bartlam factory of Cain Hoy, South Carolina, has emerged for sale in the UK.

Books, catalogues, ephemera, pictures and other material from the collections of the Shorthorn Society of the United Kingdom & Ireland formed a significant part of a recent Carlisle sale.

Maud O’Reilly (1886-1971), a key figure in Queensland’s Arts & Crafts movement and a student of the LJ Harvey school, showed her pottery at a number of British exhibitions in the mid 1920s.

Irish painter William Conor (1881-1968) received many official commissions during a prolific artistic career, including from King George V, but it was his warm and sympathetic portrayals of working-class life in Ulster that are best known today.

Four military maps encompassing Siam (Thailand), Hong Kong, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia took an unexpected £3700 at the Peter Wilson (22% buyer’s premium) Arms, Militaria, Medals & Firearms auction earlier this year.

London became the training ground for many young South African artists during the inter-war years. Among them was Cape Town painter Freida Lock (1902-62) who attended Heatherley School of Art and the Central School of Art where she was introduced to the works of post-Impressionists such as Van Gogh, Cézanne and Braque.

An historic archive belonging to the engineer who oversaw the design of the Mulberry Harbours in the Second World War comes to auction in Cumbria later this month.

Battered and dust-engrained when found in a basement during a Lake District house clearance, an early unsigned brass lantern clock generated great excitement at Penrith Farmers’ & Kidd’s (18% buyer’s premium).

Frankly catalogued as in need of restoration and ‘sold as seen’, a late-17th century walnut and marquetry chest had the inherent quality to attract phone and internet bidders from across the UK to the Carlisle rooms of Thomson Roddick (17.5% buyer’s premium).

A sculpture that had previously been owned by Stanley Seeger’s personal assistant at Sutton Place set a house record at Adam Partridge.

Comics played a significant part in a recent held by Mitchells (20% buyer’s premium) of Cockermouth, undoubtedly helped by the presence of some 30,000 Marvel comics from one private collection.

Modestly estimated at just £100-150 in a recent Carlisle sale, an 18th century manuscript notebook offering ‘An Account of the Improvements in the Gardens & Park at Cannonhall’ proved a major attraction.

A watercolour by Michel-Jean Cazabon (1813-88), Trinidad’s first internationally known artist, sold for £24,000 (plus 18% buyer’s premium) in Lancashire earlier this month.