West Midlands

German-made painted wood Noah’s arks, appealing to folk art and toy collectors alike, don’t get much better than this mid-19th century example sold recently at Brightwells in Leominster.

The National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers (NAVA) are calling for entries for the 2014 NAVA Auctioneer of the Year competition, which will take place on September 24 at the Stratford Manor Hotel, Warwickshire.

NAVA have announced their new Autumn Forum will take place on Thursday, September 25.

The First World War shattered not just lives but also perceptions of the ‘natural order’ of things across Europe and how it was ruled.

Plans to relocate Birmingham’s Assay office can now go ahead following the sale of its landmark building in Newhall Street.

Designed and manufactured by the Siemens factory in Woolwich from 1929, the 200 Series dial telephone (aka the Neophone) is today considered an Art Deco design classic and the first truly modern telephone.

A trial model of a champion dog led the way among a group of Beswick figures sold at a recent auction in Stoke-on-Trent.

Did a diminutive fruitwood carving sold by Knowle Auction Rooms relate to one of the most tumultuous periods of British history – the Act of the Supremacy under Henry VIII?

A rare early work by the Dutch Old Master painter Dirck Van Delen (c.1605-1671) will be offered at Halls of Shrewsbury on April 16.

Knowle Auction Rooms will offer this pair of tan leather Barcelona chairs at their next sale.

This Art Deco 18ct gold Egyptian Revival gem-set winged scarab brooch with rose-cut diamonds will appear in the Antique & Modern Jewellery sale being held by Fellows of Birmingham.

A renewed appeal for information has been made after part of a medieval burial stone was stolen in Herefordshire as thieves targeting church monuments seem to have become active again.

Some of the group of youthful dealers who make up ‘Young Guns of the Antiques Trade’ have clubbed together to exhibit in their own pavilion at the ‘Antiques for Everyone’ fair next at the NEC, Birmingham from October 31 to November 3.

There are promising signs for the future of the Wedgwood Museum thanks to planning approval given to redevelop the site where it is based near Stoke-on-Trent.

A house clearance in Staffordshire yielded this highly decorative pair of late 18th or early 19th century narwhal tusk and gilt-metal lanterns for Louis Taylor’s latest sale in Stoke-on-Trent.

More than 2000 objects from a Dorset toy museum will come under the hammer in November.

Around 5000 people will be streaming through the gates from seven in the morning this bank holiday Monday, August 26, for B2B Events’ hectic flea and collectors’ fair at the Three Counties Showground in Worcestershire.

Warwickshire saleroom Bigwood of Teddington, Stratford-on-Avon sold this mid 19th century whalebone cane for an extraordinary £27,000 at their latest sale.

London jewellers Wartski have donated the £57,395 necessary to purchase the 81 additional pieces of Anglo-Saxon treasure found last November in the same field as the 3,500-piece Staffordshire Hoard.

Although taught by Bernard Cuzner at the St Margaret School of Art and a contemporary of both Dorrie Nossiter and Katie Eadie, George Edward Hunt (1892-1960) is not the best-known jeweller of the Birmingham Group.