West Midlands

Two Worcester ‘Limoges’ chalices were the star lots at Stourbridge auction house Fieldings (21% buyer’s premium).

Two lots offering heraldic manuscripts – one of them being of particular regional interest – produced the highest bids in a mixed sale of collectables and militaria held in Shrewsbury.

A demi-parure of mid-18th century Swedish gold jewellery offered by Brightwells (22% buyer’s premium) in Leominster was accompanied by a painted portrait miniature of the original owner wearing the set. The miniature, although uninscribed, was dated 1845.

Topping two days of steady selling and 750 wide-ranging lots at Leominster saleroom Brightwells’ (17.5% buyer’s premium) summer auction was a Republic period cong-form vase in the style of the renowned Qianjiang School artist Wang Yeting.

A valuation day find for Kingham & Orme (20% buyer’s premium), this Dutch-engraved East India Company baluster goblet c.1760, took a multi-estimate £7500 in Evesham.

This small scene by Scottish genre painter Thomas Faed (1826-1900) shown below sold for a quadruple-estimate £8500 at Brightwells (22% buyer’s premium).

The Shropshire pottery, Maw & Co of Jackfield, is best known for the mass production of earthenware tiles and architectural ceramics.

As collecting evolves, many pieces of decorative, and historically captivating, Georgian silver are priced very keenly at both auction and retail.

After a slow start to the year, the Malvern Flea and Collectors’ Fair is looking forward to a bumper summer.

Found in a garden shed during a house clearance, this unrestored version of a classic c.1950 pedal car, below, attracted bidders online, on the phones and in the Wolverhampton rooms of Cuttlestones (17.5% buyer’s premium) on June 22.

Most of the UK may be going through a heatwave, but even if the clouds appear IACF’s new three-day antiques and collectors’ fair at the Staffordshire Showground will shine through.

It was catalogued as 19th century, with a replaced plate, later back batons, small chips and wear, age cracks and the gilt painted surface was thick and not original.

It’s always heartening to hear of redundant churches being put to another use. A Grade II-listed Victorian church in Wolverhampton which has been empty for more than a decade is set to open as an antiques centre later this month.