Dorset

Catalogued as ‘exceptional’, this farmhouse refectory table fulfilled the auctioneer’s adjective in more than one way at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) sale in Dorchester on April 26.

While the 19th century English painter John Frederick Lewis (1805-76) is chiefly remembered for his major Orientalist creations – several of which have sold for more than £1m at auction – much less is known about his early career.

Inside Manchester Airport stands a sculpture dedicated to John Alcock and Arthur Brown, two aviators who made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919.

With ‘on the premises’ country house contents sales now so rare, the more usual practice is for the better pieces to be removed to saleroom bases.

A matched pair of Chelsea mugs cropped up in an Andrew Smith’s (21% buyer’s premium) sale in Hampshire.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Duke’s Asian sale on May 20 includes this Wanli (1572-1620) mark and period wucai ‘zun’ altar vase.

Duke’s of Dorchester has announced what promises to be the biggest house contents sale of the year and the largest by a UK regional auction house for more than a decade.

Once the Tirpitz had been damaged by midget submarines (see main story this section), the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst was left to tackle British convoys to Russia alone. A trap was set by the Royal Navy in December 1943.

Patrick Macintosh deals in English country house antiques from the 17th-20th centuries with an emphasis on quirky furniture. He is based in Sherborne, Dorset, and exhibits at the Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in Battersea with fellow dealer Richard Nadin.

The plethora of single-collection sales at the start of the year was not at the expense of old-fashioned auctions offering good-quality offerings across the range of dealing and collecting – such as the Winter Fine Arts sale at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) of Dorchester.

Rare work by artist best known for his Lincolnshire views is a highlight of Dorset sale.

This inter-war ‘English school’ portrait of a seated gentleman wearing a bow tie, bought for around £150 three decades ago, sold for an unexpected £7600 at Charterhouse (21% buyer’s premium) on January 17. The unfinished 4ft 2in x 3ft 4in (1.27 x 1.01m) oil was dated 1922 but unsigned.

This classic First World war recruitment poster with the Old Lion of Britain calling on the Young Lions to answer the call to fight is estimated at £200-400 in Onslows’ poster auction on December 14.

The Charterhouse two-day November 15-16 auction in Sherborne includes a substantial selection of jewellery and watches.

What still feels to many like the opening month of a new season got off to an excellent start with some serious, if occasionally unexpected, five-figure bids at four major provincial salerooms.