This classic piece of Wedgwood Jasperware is priced at £100-150 in Gerrard Auction Rooms’ March 2-3 sale in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. In ‘excellent’ condition, the 12in (30cm) high neo-classical lidded urn dates to c.1884 and is decorated with acanthus leaf friezes and classical figures of maidens.
Designed by Björn Weckström (b.1935) for Finnish jewellery company Lapponia, a c.1960s pair of 18ct gold cufflinks (one shown) feature in Fellows of Birmingham’s March 9 sale.
Weckström drew inspiration for his distinctive Lapponia gold jewellery from the shape and matte surface of gold nuggets found in Lapland. Internationally, the Finnish jeweller is probably best known for his silver Lapponia Planetoid Valleys necklace, worn by Princess Leia in the first Star Wars film in 1977.
Estimate £300-400.
On March 3-4, Dickins Auctioneers of Middle Claydon in Buckinghamshire will offer this mahogany cased 19th century binocular microscope, designed by London optics maker Henry Crouch.
The firm established a reputation for producing good-quality, modestly-priced microscopes for the middle-class microscopist and student.
This example, numbered 575, comes in a 15½in (39cm) long case with assorted lenses and eyepieces, a bullseye lens on pedestal stand and various other items. Estimate £200-300.
Elaborately decorated and highly collectable biscuit tins played a vital role in the success of the biscuit-making firm Huntley & Palmers, one of the world’s first global brands.
Such was the popularity of the tin designs that they were copied by others – a move Huntley & Palmers acted quickly to quash. In 1896, the Staffordshire company of Burgess & Leigh used the design of a Huntley & Palmers’ Indian Empire tin of 1894 to make this teapot, left.
A lawsuit for copyright infringement followed, with Burgess & Leigh agreeing to discontinue the range and produce monochrome versions only.
Few have survived as a result, with this example guided at £100-200 in Rogers Jones’ auction in Cardiff on March 3.
