South-east England

Described as being a little fragile but otherwise good, this Victorian transformation game was drawn on both sides of a single sheet of cut and folded paper.

A rare large-scale Erzgebirge mid-19th century painted wooden market was one of the stand-out lots of the largest-ever Toys, Dolls, Dolls’ Houses and Teddy Bears sale to be staged by Special Auction Services (20% buyer’s premium) in Newbury.

As in so many collecting fields, slight variations can be key when it comes to pricing of TV generation toys.

Rare Japanese Meiji gold coin emerges at auction in West Sussex

A sword sold at Kent auction house C&T (22% buyer’s premium) belonged to a British Antarctic explorer who died in 1912 – but not with Robert Falcon Scott.

Arms and armour sales often throw out interesting talking points in the way of accessories.

A significant collection of works by George Bissill (1896-1973), the Derbyshire miner who enjoyed some fleeting success as an artist in the 1920s-30s but who later died largely forgotten, emerged recently at Mallams (25% buyer’s premium) in Oxford.

Stall numbers are looking good at around 160 for Grandma’s Attic Fairs’ new antiques and vintage fair at Woking Leisure Centre which launches on Sunday, February 6.

Estimated at just £60-100, a pair of Georgian portrait miniatures sold online for £2900 at Amersham Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium) on January 6.

Despite his famous name, the artist Henry Strachey (1863-1940) has never had much prominence at auction, with only around a dozen works having emerged.

Dovehouse Fine Antiques Fairs’ organiser Jane Alexander says that her long-planned Little Chelsea Decorative Arts and Antiques Fair at Chelsea Old Town Hall is on hold for the time being.

In 1602 the Dutch painter and printmaker Jan Saenredam made an engraving of a whale that had been washed ashore near the town of Beverwijk.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the Nobel prize-winning poet, writer, composer, philosopher and social reformer, began to practise as an artist aged 60.

Collections relating to leading British film director Lewis Gilbert (1920-2018) and his wife of 53 years Hylda (d.2005) provided very different lots for Billingshurst auction house Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium).

Japanese antique ivories have been gradually disappearing from the catalogues of prominent dealers and major auction houses but good examples are still being sold in the regions.

This Japanese cloisonné casket bears the mark for the Ando Company of Nagoya.

Relatively few English mapmakers came to the fore in the 17th century at a time when Dutch cartographers were well ahead of the competition.

Masoud Mazaheri of Bakhtiyar is among the dealers set to appear at LARTA this month.

In natural light this English ‘black glass’ onion form wine bottle appears distinctly blue.