Shropshire

Two very different ceramic objects illuminated The Spring Auction at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) in Shrewsbury on March 17.

This coming Easter weekend may be quieter than usual but many of us can plan to meet up with family and friends again in the coming weeks and months as lockdown restrictions ease around the UK.

Reappearing in the same saleroom after a six-year interval, a landscape by Edmund Morison Wimperis (1835-1900) attracted attention at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) of Shrewsbury.

Offered with moderate estimates, two Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) etchings from the Vollard Suite drew demand at the recent timed online sale of Modern & Contemporary art at Halls (20% buyer’s premium).

This Chelsea dish moulded as a vine leaf and painted with polychrome fruit is a textbook production from the Red Anchor period c.1755-58.

Florence Nightingale was a name that figured prominently among the 130 lots of books and ephemera offered as part of a September 2 sale in Shrewsbury.

Organising duo diversify to attract visitors to this month’s racecourse event

In the hierarchy of Royal Worcester fruit painters Frank Roberts (1857-1920) comes close to the top.

Pictured here are three good examples of Worcester hard-paste porcelain from the early decades of the 19th century – at which time there was a trio of factories operating in the city.

A legend of golf is represented at Shropshire saleroom Mullock’s Golfing Memorabilia and Antique & Modern Fishing Tackle auction on August 13-14.

This portrait that emerged at the March 18 auction at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) of Shrewsbury appears to be closely based on Sir Peter Lely’s (1618-80) portrait of Mary II as a young girl that now resides in the Royal Collection.

A gold winner’s medal awarded for the 1893 FA Cup – Wolverhampton Wanderers’ first major trophy – sold for £8000 at Mullock’s (20% buyer’s premium) on April 29-30.

Made within 20 miles of Halls’ (23% buyer’s premium) Shrewsbury rooms, 76 lots of mid to late-18th century Caughley soft paste porcelain from two local collections attracted countrywide bidding.

The photograph seen at bottom right is a group of Chinese men convicted of spying and awaiting “…execution by Imperialists”.

The Wimshurst influence machine, an electrostatic generator capable of creating high voltages, was developed between 1880-83 by British inventor James Wimshurst (1832-1903).

The minaudière, a case for storing several personal items in a small space, first appeared during the 1930s.

A very early railway guide, still in the original decorative boards, was a rare and unusual lot in a recent held by Mullock’s (20% buyer’s premium).

Caughley Porcelain was founded in Shropshire (at Broseley) so it is hardly surprising that local saleroom Halls has been offering its fair share of consignments from this 18th century factory whose wares rivalled those of the Staffordshire potteries and Worcester in particular.

Halls of Shrewsbury is to sell more than 400 paintings on behalf of Lloyds Bank in an online sale later this month. The consignment will make up part of a Modern and Contemporary Art online auction, which starts on January 17 and ends on January 31.