Auction figures for firms outside London show a shake-up of the status quo

The so-called Arundel Lions were once a well-known landmark in Sheffield.

A selection of 15 upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.

A selection of these functional but fascinating objects that have appeared at recent sales

Estimated at just £60-100, a pair of Georgian portrait miniatures sold online for £2900 at Amersham Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium) on January 6.

Handed in by miners at the start of a shift in exchange for a Davy lamp, colliery tokens, tallies or checks provided vital information in the event of fire or explosion.

The eclectic collection of Alison Barker (1951-2021) of London and Chichester was sold by Trevanion in Whitchurch, Shropshire on January 12.

In the early 1880s Alfred Barnard, secretary of Harper’s Weekly Gazette (the magazine that morphed into today’s Harpers Wine & Spirit), decided to visit all distilleries in Scotland, England and Ireland.

This small wood and fibre glass sculpture by Banksy (b.1974) formed part of the street artist’s 'Great British Spraycation' series that emerged at British seaside destinations over the summer.

Lyon & Turnbull’s single-owner sale titled The Minoprio Collection: British Design in the Arts & Crafts Tradition included some very strong prices for mid-century Cotswolds School furnishings.

The scene on this 19in (43cm) Yongzheng famille rose dish depicts the Daoist immortal Magu on her way to celebrate the famous peach banquet of the Queen Mother of the West, Xi Wang Mu, who rules over the garden of the peaches of longevity.

This Qing bronze fragment measuring a substantial 19in (47cm) across was once part of a magnificent sculpture of a crane that adorned an imperial palace.

American artist Alfred Cohen (1920-2001) was inspired by the colour and handling of the Post-Impressionists and the imagery of the Commedia dell’arte.

Many Chinese export porcelain forms were inspired by European silver or ceramic forms.

The highest single price posted in the regions during the autumn series of Asian art sales was the £380,000 bid at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Dorchester for a monumental Sino-Tibetan gilt bronze devotional figure of Tara broadly dated to the Qing period.

Christopher Dresser created a number of daring geometric designs for silver and silver-plated toast racks in the late 1870s and early 1880s, both for Hukin & Heath and for James Dixon & Son.