Our selection of lots from 12 upcoming auctions

Although the size of the collecting audience is changing - and the arrival or departure of just one or two committed buyers can make a significant difference to prices - British provincial wares can command decent prices.

A collection of miner’s lamps at Bamfords (24.75% buyer’s premium) in Derby included a pair of patent lamps by William Purdy.

The Autumn Auction at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (26/25% buyer’s premium) in Exeter included an array of unusual objects from the collection of the late Christopher Hawkings.

In his magnus opus Memorials of the Jeypore Exhibition, 1883, Thomas Holbein Hendley (1847-1917) documents what he called “a new and most interesting style of engraved silver plate developed in Alwar”.

Dressing table sets are among the most frequently surviving elements of late 17th century hollowware.

In storage for a century, a remarkable group of Chinese works of art has sold for £870,000 at a south London auction.

With the scrap price of silver at such a high level the sad truth is that many items will end up in the melting pot.

This remarkable Charles II period silver clock-watch with alarm appeared for sale at Wotton Auction Rooms in Gloucestershire this month.

The second instalment of Meissen porcelain from the collection of German businessman Hadrian Maria Oskar Merkle (1942-2018) was sold at a recent sale at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr of Paris.

This late Tudor or early Stuart purse or sweet bag with a connection to Mary, Queen of Scots sold for £30,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at a recent sale at Hutchinson Scott.

Our selection of lots from 13 upcoming auctions

Four items including an Irish harp and William Morris designs boasted a family connection to the artist

One of the very first commercial box telephones appeared for sale at White’s Auctions (27% buyer’s premium) in Middleboro, Massachusetts.

This Edwardian diorama offered by Smiths of Newent (20% buyer’s premium) in Gloucestershire depicts a locksmith’s shop.

Getty collection provides another auction highlight while glass and patinated bronze lanterns also shine in Massachusetts

A special selection of upcoming lots raging from the Encyclopaedia Britannica and Beano to Oppenheimer's passport and Machiavelli’s The Prince