Yorkshire and the Humber

A spate of early to mid-20th century portraits of society figures and important personalities generated stiff competition at UK sales in London and the regions.

As his reputation began to grow in the early 1940s, Michael Ayrton (1921-75) embarked on a series of melancholic paintings in the Neo-Romantic style.

Hornby Dublo collectors fought spirited battles for clockwork rarities at Duggleby Stephenson’s (18.75% buyer’s premium) York sale.

Focus on a trio of events in Yorkshire

This unassuming Grana military issue c.1945 shown below forms part of the so-called Dirty Dozen wristwatches made by 12 Swiss manufacturers for the British army.

The impact of institutions on the collector-dominated market in fans was witnessed when the best-seller at a dedicated Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) auction went to a museum.

Forty selected ceramicists will be selling their work at the York Ceramics Fair on Saturday and Sunday, November 23-24, at The Hospitium in the city’s Museum Gardens.

Latest sales give a snapshot of what collectors are looking for amid different styles and eras

The final instalment of the three annual Pavilions of Harrogate Decorative Antiques & Fine Art Fair includes this small naive hedge or country chair, c.1820, from Ireland’s County Antrim.

A large collection of Rockingham porcelain will be on display at Wentworth Woodhouse next month ahead of its sale at auction. The Rowley collection, numbering 120 lots, was assembled by a collector hailing from Sprotborough, Doncaster, who now lives in Buckinghamshire.

Two modestly estimated watercolours by the Victorian ornithological painter Archibald Thorburn (1860-1935) emerged as the star sellers in an auction in South Yorkshire.

As an alternative to shopping in the high-street chains, a group of independents have set up a hub at 53 Bo’ Grove in Grove Road, Harrogate, with 20 traders selling art, antiques, decorative salvage and Mid-century pieces.

One exceptional and very successful lot in a recent Yorkshire sale focused on penal reforms on the far side of the world.

Pitched at £200-300, this Russian diptych icon shown below triggered wide pre-sale Russian and East European interest ahead of Elstob & Elstob’s 20% buyer’s premium) sale at Bedale.

This Resolution and Adventure medal is one of 2000 that were commissioned by the British Admiralty ahead of James Cook’s Second Voyage.

After the Hartleys (17.5% buyer’s premium) September 4 sale, auctioneer Andrew Hartley admitted: “Furniture did not perform as it was hoped from tiny chinks of daylight discernible in the last few months.”

Harry Becker (1865-1928) is not well known outside East Anglia but he is much admired both for a skilled grasp of Impressionism and his choice of subject matter.

Our weekly selection from salerooms.