"He had taken a taxi from Heathrow to Easingwold. After fierce bidding on the phones and internet he bought it, put it in his suitcase and the taxi was still waiting outside the saleroom with the meter ticking to go back to Heathrow.”

A trio of auctioneers have announced plans for further expansion into the London market. Joined by specialists in new disciplines, The Pedestal has plans for a London sale, Tennants has taken offices in the capital while Chiswick Auctions is hiring more staff.

“It was totally unexpected – as the best finds always are,” Derbyshire auctioneer Charles Hanson told ATG. “A client came along to our office in East Molesey carrying a cardboard box. Inside, wrapped in an old tea towel, was not one, but two, Fabergé flowers.”

In the bottle collecting field, they are calling it ‘one of the best ever finds’.

The bill that will mean a near-total ban on the sale of African elephant ivory could be extended to include other ivory-bearing species before it becomes law.

The parent company of recently launched Mayfair Philatelic Auctions has announced it will also be holding regular auctions of books and prints, writes Roland Arkell.

A forthcoming exhibition of two private collections spotlights both the genius of 17th century clockmaking and the remarkable objects the market has yielded across a generation.

A late 17th century ebony veneered table clock with a pull quarter repeat took a mid-estimate £17,500 at Chiswick Auctions on June 6.

As a showpiece for horology, the 'Masterpiece' fair lives up to its name. For all its welcome focus on the cool of 21st century collecting, at its core the 'Masterpiece' fair is a high-quality antiques show in the tradition of the Grosvenor House fair it replaced.

By 1677, the great English clockmaker Thomas Tompion (1639-1713) was subletting part of his famous London premises – The Dial and Three Crowns at Water Lane – to one Jasper Braem or Bream (fl.1677-96).

Ken Hose, who has published three books on Australian clockmakers, has been fascinated by clocks and their mechanics since he was a teenager.

The emperor Qianlong collected Western clocks throughout his 60-year reign, building upon the interest of his grandfather Kangxi.

Well-provenanced Chinese monochromes dominated bidding at recent Asian art sales across the UK regions.

Last year the UK’s regional salerooms were treated to a generous handful of five- and six-figure bids for unappreciated masterworks of Aboriginal and Oceanian art – a Maori putorino or bugle flute sold to a French dealer for £140,000 at John Nicholson’s of Haslemere among them.

The 57-page UK ivory ban bill which was published last week deviates little from the proposals announced in April. Here ATG picks out some important points to note.