Dorset

Ceramics by Hans Coper (1920-81) and Lucie Rie (1902-95) have been assimilated into the collecting sphere of Modern British art with spectacular effect.

Samantha and Richard Payne-Withers run two antiques centres in Bridport, a Dorset market town which offers quite a choice of antiques and vintage shops.

A little-known theatrical portrait painted by Johan Zoffany (1733-1810) towards the end of his career sold for £330,000 at auction in Dorset.

This little-known theatrical portrait was painted in 1796 by Johan Zoffany (1733-1810) towards the end of his career.

The ‘property of a lady’, this concertina-style wallet book by Beatrix Potter, 'The Story of Miss Moppet', is a first edition published by Frederick Warne & Co, London & New York, 1906.

Bid to £16,000 in a sale held by Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) of Dorchester was a 1921 first of Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious House at Styles.

A ‘Jolly Roger’ or pirate flag that records the Second World War exploits of a British submarine flew once more in a militaria sale earlier this summer.

The watch market can be obsessed with brand names – and the best names do come with a price tag to match.

Among the 20th century works on paper generating demand at regional sales in the last few months was a Keith Vaughan (1912-77) study of a group of bathers.

A Victorian sapphire, diamond and pearl brooch-pendant was one of two pieces with Indian roots offered for sale at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium).

Charterhouse (25% buyer’s premium) has been holding auctions of classic cars, motorcycles and automobilia for nearly 20 years.

The Asian art sale at Duke’s of Dorchester, scheduled for May, has been moved back to June 15 to incorporate a significant late consignment.

This Qing bronze fragment measuring a substantial 19in (47cm) across was once part of a magnificent sculpture of a crane that adorned an imperial palace.

The outstanding jade offered in the regions in the October-December period was this pale celadon teapot and cover that came for sale at Duke’s in Dorchester on December 8 from a Dutch private collection where it had been since the 1980s.

Brass and steel ‘combination’ or ‘puzzle’ boxes enjoyed a vogue in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

Many of the unsung British heroes of both world wars served in the royal and merchant navies carrying and protecting supplies to Russia or the USSR.

The Anglo-Croatian sculptor Oscar Nemon (1906-85) first met Sir Winston Churchill when holidaying in Marrakech in 1951.

Among the book lots offered as part of an October 7-8 sale at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) the earliest was a Burgundian ‘Hours of the Virgin’ manuscript.

In 2010 The National Gallery held the first exhibition of works by Frederick Cayley Robinson (1862-1927) in the UK for 30 years.

Emile Berliner (1851-1921), a German clerk in a Washington DC haberdashery, is credited with inventing both the first commercially successful disc record and the first machine to play it.