North-west England

A sterling silver scale model of the Lockheed TriStar aircraft was the top lot at Kinghams’ (25% buyer’s premium) Silver and Objects of Vertu sale in the Cotswolds.

The music memorabilia sale at Omega (28.8% buyer’s premium inc VAT) on November 29 included the handwritten lyrics to two tracks on David Bowie’s 1972 classic The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

There were many massive English country house sales in the 20th century but the largest by volume was the contents sale at Lowther Castle during April, May and June 1947.

A high price for a Winifred Nicholson (1893-1981) picture sold outside the main London rooms came recently in Cumbria.

This colonial-era Indian silver horse racing trophy is marked for Peter Orr and Sons of Madras.

The Cheshire showground event run by Arthur Swallow includes plenty of conversation starters.

If you haven’t thought about the Roman Empire yet today, here’s your chance.

This medieval document with a royal seal attached amounts to a pardon granted by Henry IV (1367-1413) to John Barlawe of the manor of Barlow in Chorlton-Cum-Hardy (now suburban Manchester).

The salt-glazed portrait jug of Nelson by Doulton & Watts of Lambeth is considered the first character jug made by Doulton

The artist Richard Ernst Eurich (1903-92) is rather hard to categorise.

A Queen’s Gallantry Medal in its case of issue awarded to a police constable who helped to catch two violent escaped prisoners sold for £2400 at auction.

A setting with lots of water next to valuable books may not seem an obvious fit but it was a successful match

Just as stereoscope images became a Victorian collecting craze, another notable photographic fad of the era was the carte de visite

A rare work of 1767 called A Journal of a Voyage Round the World in His Majesty’s Ship The Dolphin… was offered by Thomson Roddick (20% buyer’s premium) in Carlisle.

When the (Louis) Marx toy company produced a friction-drive model Batmobile in the 1960s the plastic car that resulted was really a model of the 1951 General Motors Le Sabre concept show car designed by Harley Earl.

The Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA) has launched a new two-day premier book fair to take place in Preston this summer.

A drawing by Sheila Fell (1931-79) offered in Cockermouth showed how strong demand can emerge even for a simple sketch.