Jewellery

One of the eight York Rose brooches given by Prince Albert (later George VI) to the bridesmaids who attended his marriage to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother) in 1923, will be offered at Noonans in Mayfair on November 25.

Proving once again that fine tiaras associated with royalty and or aristocracy carry a financial premium, Lyon & Turnbull (26% buyer’s premium) sold the Airlie tiara on October 22.

Jewellery shows great artistic and technical sophistication that catches the eyes of collectors

This late Victorian diamond tiara set with old mine, old European and old cut diamonds comes for sale at Adam’s in Dublin on December 2 by descent from Dermot Chichester, 7th Marquess of Donegall (1916-2007).

The unexpected highpoint of the sale at Potteries Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Staffordshire on November 7 – a sale otherwise dominated by 20th century collectable ceramics – was this high-carat gold signet or seal ring.

Serendipity had it that three jewels by the Guild and School of Handicraft emerged for sale across three UK salerooms on November 5-6.

There was some good old fashioned auction drama in Ruislip on October 7 when a loose sapphire hammered for £332,000, a house record for any of the Adam Partridge salerooms.

The 300th anniversary of the birth of the English radical journalist and politician John Wilkes (1725-97) on October 17 is being marked by a small exhibition featuring items from the personal collection and stock of dealer Timothy Millett.

London jeweller Wartski has the perfect gift for Halloween: a late 17th century pendant fashioned from a lizard’s leg.

Auction house Fellows has a new owner, with 100% of the business - previously owned by the Whittaker family - having been sold to a private investor.

Noonans’ sale of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria in London on September 10 was led by an exceptional 18th century gold and enamel jewel.

Wartski’s Katherine Purcell stages a museum-quality loan exhibition devoted to the history and the magnificence of a classic jewellery form

In Paris this autumn, Les Enluminures holds Jewels on Paper: Secrets of Creation, comprising an archive of design spanning the 18th century to the 1970s. Running from September 18 to October 31, it is accompanied by a fully illustrated book.

Head from your local cinema to London’s Piccadilly: jeweller Bentley & Skinner is offering 13 pieces featured in the new film Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.

A gold pendant, Tête aux Seins, by Max Ernst is one of the artist-made jewels starring at Louisa Guinness Gallery’s Surrealist Jewels 101 show.

When American Footballer Travis Kelce proposed last month in a flower-bedecked arbour to singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, much of the press focus was on the heritage and rarity of the ring.