South-east England

A celebrity endorsement by actor Richard E Grant gave Sunbury Antiques Market at Kempton Park a boost in the run up to Christmas.

Julian Dawson is retiring from Gorringe's and held his last auction yesterday at the Lewes auction firm.

Pete Waterman, Neil Young, Roger Daltrey and Peter Snow all do it. Frank Sinatra and Peter Sellers did it. Rod Stewart apparently hires extra hotel rooms on tour to indulge in it. ‘It’ being the innocent and highly popular pastime of model railways.

Uniforms can be a hard sell at militaria auctions. Medals for example are nice and easy to display, while guns can sit high on the wall or in a cabinet, but what do you do with a full set of battledress unless you happen to be a re-enactor or happen to live in a mansion with lots of room for mannequins?

This stoneware vase designed by Henry Van De Velde for Reinhold Hanke was sold at Mallams in Oxford earlier today for £17,000.

A sixth arrest has been made by police investigating the murder of antiques dealer Robyn Mercer.

An archive of family drawings by Sir William Rothenstein (1872-1945) forms part of Mallams’ December 8 sale in Oxford.

Rarely seen photographs of the wedding that caused a constitutional crisis and rocked the British monarchy have been sold at £9200.

Police are appealing for information following a theft at Polesden Lacey House, a National Trust property in Surrey.

A rare dodo skeleton – the first almost complete specimen in nearly a century – has sold for £280,000 at auction.

Lewes saleroom Gorringe’s will hold all its auctions under one roof from January.

A still life by American painter Anne Estelle Rice (1877-1959) and a piece of early English furniture are among the top items on offer at Grand Auctions’ upcoming sale on December 12.

An oil painting of the infamous Bullingdon Club ‘class of ’87’ photo will go to auction next month.

TV star Vic Reeves may be best known for his zany comedy double act with Bob Mortimer, but he is also said to be an accomplished artist, counting Damien Hirst as a fan.

The inscribed personal bible of Sir Nicholas Winton drew fervent bidding at auction last week in Oxfordshire.

This mahogany and inlaid dressing table, which is on offer at WR Harvey Antiques 65th anniversary exhibition opening tomorrow, is remarkable in part because of its infamous original owner, an 18th century society woman whose crimes eventually sent two men to the gallows.

A new auction business is to open in the Berkshire town of Maidenhead with a debut sale planned for January 21.

A 105th birthday message from the Queen to Kindertransport hero Sir Nicholas Winton is among the latter’s possessions that will be auctioned this week.

Anthony Pratt, managing director of The Canterbury Auction Galleries, has been portrayed as The Knight from the Canterbury Tales in a mural unveiled earlier this month in the Kent city’s high street.

C&T Auctioneers will hold its first sale dedicated to mechanical, music scientific instruments and technical apparatus under its newly appointed specialist Laurence Fisher on November 2.