North-west England

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

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.

Auction house Adam Partridge is to remodel its calendar, moving away from large multi-discipline sales in favour of more frequent specialised events.

International bidders competed online and by phone against the UK trade and collectors for a group of 18th century Meissen figures offered at Adam Partridge (20% buyer’s premium) in Macclesfield.

A record price of £10,200 was paid last month for a pen and ink sketch by fell-walking legend Alfred Wainwright at 1818 Auctioneers of Milnthorpe, Cumbria.

The appetite people have for the return of fairs and markets is summed up by Alice Roberton from Arthur Swallow Fairs talking about the specially adapted, fully outdoor Covid-19 antiques and salvage market on Saturday, June 27.

‘Freshness and sensible estimates’ contribute to record 5016 registrants for Macclesfield sale.