South-east England

Art specialist Buffy Parker has launched Parker Fine Art Auctions in Surrey and will hold his first sale in September.

This 8 x 10in (21 x 25cm) oil on canvas board sketch of two farmhands cutting grasses with a scythe is unsigned but it carries a label on the back from an Ipswich Borough Council exhibition which identifies the artist as Harry Becker (1865-1928) and the picture’s title as Fieldworkers in Mid-Summer.

A trio of oils by Venetian artist Antonio Ermolao Paoletti (1834-1912) were consigned to Dawsons (23% buyer’s premium) of Maidenhead from a private London collection.

This George III mourning ring is engraved 'W’m Tipping, aged 17, died 23 Aug, 1792'. He drowned while bathing in the sea at Blackpool.

Kevis House Gallery in Petworth hailed the return to business as sales followed the reopening of its premises.

Among the many successful online-only jewellery auctions that took place during the lockdown was that held by Bromley-based saleroom Catherine Southon (18% buyer’s premium), writes John Benjamin.

Collector’s philosophy for his compulsive pottery buying chimed with Buddhist beliefs

Sunbury Antiques Market is coming back with force next month, reopening with three, rather than the usual two, monthly events at Kempton Park Racecourse.

The 80th anniversary of Operation Dynamo, aka the Dunkirk evacuation in May-June 1940, has been in the headlines recently. However, less well known is the fate of the British 51st Highland Division almost 100 miles further along the French coast.

In 1765 the engineer and entrepreneur Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) visited Paris, where he observed first-hand the workshops of bronziers and the wares that were proving hugely popular with Georgian Britain’s elite.

The Longines WWW is deemed the second rarest of the ‘Dirty Dozen’. These watches, made by 12 different Swiss brands, were ordered by the British Ministry of Defence during the tail-end of the Second World War for issue to army ground personnel.

MADAM – I was interested to see the details of ‘grand reopenings’ on front and p4 of ATG No 2445.

Fine examples lead an array of scientific instruments and photographica at specialist sale

The Chad Valley tinplate toy 'The Climbing Miller' is based closely on an earlier ‘gravity’ toy called 'Gustav the Busy Miller' that was one of Lehmann’s most popular issues made for close to 50 years in the pre-war era.

This 8½in (21cm) Delft blue and white tulip vase below is typical in style and form of the De Metale Pot (The Metal Pot) factory.

A group of portrait miniatures sold recently by John Nicholson’s (30/25% buyer’s premium) in Haslemere, Surrey included this English school image, c.1700, of William Fermor, 1st Baron Leominster.

South Africa leaving the Commonwealth in 1961 had serious consequences for British exporters – particularly when withdrawal was followed by imposition of an import tax on luxury goods.