South-west England

Bristol auction house sells mirror with an intriguing link to Marie Antoinette

A ‘superb connoisseur’s collection’ of classic travel posters underlined the appeal of rare works from the biggest names of this genre

This 12½in (32cm) Vincennes circular dish or plat d’entremets from the first Louis XV service sold for £95,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Woolley & Wallis.

A propellor hauled up by a fisherman proved to have an important link to Dambusters leader Guy Gibson and is now coming up at auction, as ATG reports in a wider look at the militaria market

Always popular at auction, always great to write about – so no excuses needed for featuring a selection of the weird and wonderful Second World War spy and sabotage gadgets and ingenious escape devices which do appear often in sales.

Wiltshire shop marks return to the spotlight for Talisman boss but in a more relaxed mood.

Four early pieces of Newcastle plate and a selection of other silver rarities sold at auction this autumn

As hugely personal items and of relatively small melt value, spoons represent the great majority of English domestic silver items surviving from the pre-civil war period.

Unpublished work by mathematician John Wallis who was also a major influence in code breaking sells at Dominic Winter

Back in May, Bonhams sold 22 pen and ink drawings by Cecil Beaton (1904-80).

It is thought that the earliest Chinese porcelain monteith appeared c.1715, coinciding with the establishment of the East India Company’s factory in Canton.

Semley Auctions (22% buyer’s premium) in Dorset secured one of the choice consignments this season: the Martin Robert Morland (1933-2020) collection of Chinese ceramics.

The unusual Chinese porcelain model (pictured below) forms the shape of a lingzhi stem vividly enamelled with a blend of green, blue and pink glazes. It measures 9in (23cm) high and carries a Qianlong (1736-95) mark.

Julian Tatham-Losh, who owns Top Banana Antiques in Tetbury, reports that business is booming.

Shipping in the older, literal sense of the word has played a vital role in coping with robust international demand during the current Covid-19 challenges, according to a Wiltshire business.

Quirky might be a way to describe Andrew Blackall’s antiques shop which is both Number 56 and 70 in the High Street, Corsham.

In an enterprising move early last year dealer Lydia Wood launched an antiques trail in Ashburton, on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon.

This curious object is the forerunner of a million Christmas cracker prizes. Made in gold and silver, c.1830, the ‘ring’ chased with flowers includes a tiny pin hole which allows a jet of water to be squirted into the face of an unsuspecting admirer via a syringe-like plunger that can be concealed in the palm.