South-west England

Two of the main manufacturers of rocking horses – and competitors – featured in two salerooms recently.

Greywacke sculpture headlines a series of high-flying results including £66,000 double bass

The recent release of 'The Electrical Life of Louis Wain' starring Benedict Cumberbatch provided a topical spin to this rare Amphora pottery model.

A handsome group of eight volumes commemorating the Great Exhibition of 1851 sold in Exeter had been presented to one of its commissioners, England’s serial Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone.

Pedal cars are regular visitors to salerooms but rarer powered versions were also produced for children to use, partly for road safety training

Before the crash of the R101 during its maiden voyage to France in October 1930, there had been great excitement around the potential of the airship.

These days, marketing a doll as Sindy’s saucy sister would be problematic. And the less said about outfits titled Hockey Honey or School Days, the better.

This spring the Cotswold Art & Antiques Dealers’ Association (CADA) launches Cotswolds Curated, a week of exhibitions by members around the area.

Horology dealer who will stand at Lingfield says buyers are keen to do repairs themselves

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.

Many Chinese export porcelain forms were inspired by European silver or ceramic forms.

Christopher Dresser created a number of daring geometric designs for silver and silver-plated toast racks in the late 1870s and early 1880s, both for Hukin & Heath and for James Dixon & Son.

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.

A 19th century sea otter amulet in walrus ivory and baleen fashioned as a mother and her pup sold for £24,000 at Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’s premium).

Leading a recent Woolley & Wallis' (25/12% buyer’s premium) sale in Salisbury were two scroll paintings by well-known 20th century Chinese artists that came by descent from Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell (1883-1950).

Early Japanese porcelain models of animals are very rare, and this elephant form koro, c.1700, offered for sale as part of the Woolley & Wallis (25/12% buyer’s premium) Japanese works of art sale appears to be unrecorded.

The market for Chinese furniture has come on leaps and bounds in 20 years.

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

The Tabby Cat by Mary Fedden is among the highlights in Somerset dealer Freya Mitton’s upcoming exhibition of British art.

Two very different lots from a November 10 sale held by Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium) are noted here.