South-west England

A letter in which Kenneth Grahame writes about the suicide of his son, Alastair, sold at East Bristol Auctions (18% buyer’s premium) for £1200.

Estimated at £150-200, this Georgian dial clock stormed to £4800 at Charterhouse (25% buyer’s premium) in Sherborne. Two collectors made much of the bidding.

It’s admittedly not much to look at and just 2 x 3½in (5 x 8.5cm), but if you are a Star Wars collector this badge on offer estimated at £4000-6000 at East Bristol Auctions on July 24 means a great deal.

The market for traditional British and Continental ceramics did not lie idle for three months. As ATG reports, a renewed enthusiasm greeted the first major UK sale since lockdown

This rare 2in (5cm) English delftware ointment pot, c.1775, carries the inscription in manganese 'The Queen’s Dentifrice'.

Eighteen months ago, dealer Lydia Wood launched an antiques trail in the small town of Ashburton on the edge of the Dartmoor National Park in south Devon.

This spiral-moulded cream jug decorated with a drummer boy is from a well-documented Caughley tea and coffee service painted with figural subjects by Fidelle Duvivier during a brief period of work at the Chamberlain factory in Worcester in October 1792.

Estimated at just £60-80, a rare Ericsson telephone sold for £10,500 (plus 17% buyer’s premium) at Wessex Auction Rooms in Chippenham.

Consignments from vendors with a close connection to famous artists are always a welcome boon for any auction.

The German-born watercolourist and musician John Baptist Malchair (c.1730-1812) was a key figure in 18th century Oxford.

As might be expected, local scenes were an important feature of David Lay’s Cornish art sale on June 11. Among them was a view of Penzance’s Market Jew Street by Norman Garstin (1847-1926) that depicted a location only a 10-minute walk from the saleroom.

'Still Life with Red Chrysanthemums' is among the works featured at The Fosse Gallery in Stow on the Wold as it celebrates its 40th anniversary. It was painted by Bristol artist Karen Edwards, a regular exhibitor at the now historic gallery.

South Cerney sale of nearly 900 lots mirrors the huge offerings held in Germany

The stand-out lot at David Lay’s latest Cornish art sale was an oil by Dod Procter (1891-1972), a leading member of the colony of avant garde artists working in Cornwall in the 1920s-30s.

An American collector bought this original Second World War RAF ensign flag at a recent East Bristol Auctions (18% buyer’s premium).

A rare ‘pocket watch’ sold by East Bristol Auctions (18% buyer’s premium) was more surveillance device than timekeeper.

As lockdown kicked in, Edward Whitton of Whittons auction house in Honiton conducted online-only auctions outside in the fresh air (the first was held on April 2). Internet buyers reported hearing birdsong as they placed bids.

Such has been the fall in prices of Georgian card tables that it has become the norm for auctioneers to estimate most at well below £1000.

Essay warns about considerable perils of the ‘indecent custom’ of burials in churchyards

Samuel Palmer (1805-81) prints are not unusual on the market but one of two that were offered as a single lot at Chorley’s (22.5% buyer’s premium) in Cheltenham carried an interesting inscription by the artist’s son, AH Palmer.