Yorkshire and the Humber

After abandoning his early career as a contributor to Punch and the Illustrated London News, Myles Birket Foster (1825-99) went on to establish his reputation as a painter of technically skilled and highly polished watercolours, depicting landscapes and rustic subjects from Scotland to the Mediterranean.

In terms of name recognition in the UK, Alvar Aalto is probably outranked by the American couple Charles Eames (1907-78) and his wife Ray (1912-88). Of their output the lounge chair (670) and ottoman (671) designed in 1956 is the most iconic.

The ‘Big Red’ Daytona reference 6265 is one of the most desirable Rolex chronographs from the 1980s.

It was a case of best feet forward at Stroud Auctions (18% buyer’s premium) when a pair of Georgian ladies’ embroidered shoes with cut steel buckles and leather soles was offered.

Heuer watches, steeped in racing history, are among the ‘secondary’ or ‘niche’ Swiss brands that have entered the mainstream collecting arena in the past decade.

The recent Modern Living sale at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) was dominated by ‘Mouseman’ furniture, something of a speciality at the Leyburn rooms.

An incomplete set of that remarkable ornithological work, William Lewin’s 'Birds of Great Britain', was the most expensive lot in a recent Yorkshire sale.

The story of Queen Anne, who ruled from 1702 to her death in 1714, is now much more widely known after the Oscar-winning portrayal by Olivia Colman in 'The Favourite'.

A Hutschenreuther Porcelain mocca set decorated with silver overlay in the studios of Friedrich Spahr is among the works on offer at The Duncombe Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair where it is available from John Newton Antiques for £1050.

The first of four sales scheduled by Morphets of Harrogate for the dispersal of a single private library will take place on April 3-4.

Historic artefacts from leading antiques dealers feature in an exhibition at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery at the University of Leeds.

It was during a period of intense industrialisation that the 19th century pastoral tradition in British print making flourished.

A pair of rare George II rosewood candlestands c.1745-60 has been reunited by Fairfax House in York after one of them was spotted at a Woolley & Wallis auction at the start of the year.

Antiques dealer Robin Wetherill has been the longest-serving trader in York’s well-known Bishopthorpe Road area.

“Our visitor profile is generally interior style enthusiasts with an age range of 30-60 and it tends to be couples, families with small children and also ‘empty nesters’ who want to revamp their houses now they have it back to themselves.”

The concertina-cut novelty pictured here is one in which a painted roundel of a cottage pulls up to reveal a large mouse.

A trio of tickets issued by one of the UK’s first passenger railways sold for £1050 at a recent sale held by David Duggleby (21% buyer’s premium) in Scarborough.

The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle was among the buyers when Tennants sold 13 quilts that belonged to Durham hill farmer Hannah Hauxwell (1926-2018) on February 9.

In 2018 Tennants of Leyburn recorded a hammer turnover of £13.3m – an increase of roughly £1m from the previous year.