Yorkshire and the Humber

This iron model of a hawk above is a striking example of a jizai okimono – lifelike, articulated animal figures popular in the last decades of Edo-period and Meiji Japan.

Advertising and antique bottle supremo Alan Blakeman of BBR Auctions discovered this massive 18½in (45cm) diameter pot lid back in the early 1980s.

According to the Booksellers Association, more than 60 bookshops opened in the UK and Ireland over the past 18 months, reflecting the rediscovery by many people of the pleasure of books during the pandemic despite the increase in online shopping.

Front page pair of £68,000 candelabra headed a varied auction with plenty of highlights

Along with its Summer Fine Art sale, Tennants held a jewellery, watches and silver sale on July 17.

The central stone to this Art Deco seed pearl and diamond pendant is an elongated cushion-shaped pink sapphire, weighing about 25ct.

The National Library of Wales was among the successful bidders when an archive relating to the poet and painter John Dyer (1699-1757) emerged for sale in Yorkshire this month.

A live-steam Gauge 2 Midland Railway locomotive and tender was the top lot of Tennants’ (20% buyer’s premium) Toys, Models, Collectables and Sporting Sale.

A small fragment of a significant airship comes up for auction at Spicers in Old Goole, East Yorkshire, to mark a tragic centenary.

One of the prisoners to survive the horrors of the Changi camp in the Second World War was an art school dropout who later became a renowned illustrator.

The near ubiquitous ‘Dead Man’s Penny’ of the First World War becomes a rarity should the recipient be female.

Leading the Summer Fine Sale at Tennants in Leyburn was this pair of French ormolu-mounted, white marble and porphyry candelabra.

After a succession of virtual fairs, the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA) has announced the return of its first live event in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, on July 30-21.

Artworks by another legendary musician, Bob Dylan (b.1941), drew decent competition once again at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) this summer.

Smaller decorative pieces by Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson (1876-1955) continue to excel in the saleroom.

A pair of Chinese Qianlong Period coffee cups commissioned by portraitist Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-92) are included in Tennants’ Summer Fine Sale on July 16-17.

The annual York River Art Market is running every Saturday from June 26 to the end of August with 30-plus artists and designers selling their work.

Beer jug or wine jug? The expect purpose of Georgian silver pear-shaped jugs is sometimes unclear.

Tennants’ recent sale of Jewellery, Watches & Silver included, at a top-estimate £9000, a rare Omega aviator’s watch.