South-west England

Smashing an auction record is one thing – doing it several times in the same sale is another.

A Rolex watch that was bought in 1966 for £69.10 has sold at auction for £140,000. The rare Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner stainless steel model is highly desired by collectors due to its 3-6-9 Explorer dial.

Manfred von Richthofen aka the Red Baron is one of those historical figures with a high fascination value, meaning high demand for relics.

A bronze figure of the fierce four-armed deity Mahakala that was being used as a doorstop in a Gloucestershire cottage sold for £85,000 at Mallams’ Chinese art sale in Cheltenham.

The collection of the late Asian art valuer Richard Cole will be sold at auction next month.

A key which opened a life-jacket locker on the Titanic was one of the highlights of Henry Aldridge & Son’s auction last week.

Webbs of Wilton, near Salisbury, are conducting a sale of paintings by three generations of the Benney family on November 2.

A rare Chinese Imperial Beijing enamel vase bought for £10 at a car boot sale is to go to auction in Salisbury next month carrying a £20,000-30,000 estimate.

This early George III mahogany serpentine dressing commode with distinctive carved decoration forms part of a group thought to have been made by the London cabinet-maker William Gomm (c.1698-1780).

The organisers of a new collectors’ fair at Marlborough College say they have had “a tremendous response from the trade” but still have a few spaces left for the inaugural event later this month.

African artefacts, jewellery and fossils from a family collection linked to the celebrated palaeoanthropologists, the late Louis and Mary Leakey, are to be sold later this month at The Cotswold Auction Company.

A family row over a large collection of 17th century Chinese porcelain escalated this week after Art Fund trustee Caroline Butler hired Christie’s to value the collection.

Bridport saleroom Busby’s will offer ‘unseen’ works by members of the Bloomsbury group on October 20.

Auctioneer, valuer and ‘Antiques Roadshow’ expert Michael Newman died last month, aged 80.

Adam Schoon has joined Duke's in Dorchester to head its Asian art department.

A remarkable Australian gold rush era bracelet was sold by Chorley’s of Prinknash Abbey Park earlier this month for £57,000. The buyer was an Australian private collector.

A large collection of 17th century Chinese porcelain could be broken up and sold after a family feud among the heirs of Sir Michael Butler, a former aide to Margaret Thatcher.

The Cotswold Auction Company have moved into a new permanent saleroom in Cirencester.

A Fijian cannibal fork was sold at Duke’s in Dorchester for £7500 on September 16.

Salisbury auction house Woolley & Wallis are opening a Mayfair office.