Decorative Art

Among the Antarctic lots in the Travel & Exploration sale at Bonhams, the outstanding result came for a group of three glass jugs with silver lids, rims and, in two cases, hanging labels marked 'Whiskey'.

A c.1880 Doulton Lambeth stoneware tobacco jar and cover was one of the pleasant surprises at a recent David Duggleby (18.75% buyer’s premium) sale in Scarborough.

Representing around 25 years of the artist’s output, the ceramic creations of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) represent a popular collecting field.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Mark Goodger specialises in antique tea caddies, boxes and other accessories and works of art.

This pair of 19th century continental silver-gilt figure groups is among the objects from a Rothschild collection to be sold by Woolley & Wallis later this year.

From relatively modest beginnings, specialist design sales have become mainstream money-spinners at provincial auctions.

A rare Chelsea bodkin case in the form of a cauliflower spear is among the objects on offer at the Albert Amor exhibition 'Toys and Trifles', featuring a single-owner collection built up over 20 years.

Forget Harry and Meghan: go back in time to explore the private lives of historic royals at The Haughton International Seminar, which returns this summer.

Overseas interest fuelled bidding for two of the foreign offerings at Bellmans’ (22% buyer’s premium) Interiors sale in Winchester on February 12.

Single-owner collection to form one of the highlights at Penman’s west London event

Second-dibs sales at regional salerooms – those that follow after a major London auctioneer has cherry-picked the contents of a stately country house – can sometimes acquire the slighting epithet of ‘crumbs from a rich man’s table’.

Irish provincial silver is always sought after. The c.1790 silver sauceboat pictured below by John Nicholson of Cork is a rare example.

Briefly catalogued, but accurately estimated, this bronze and ivory dancing couple was the outstanding star at Featonby’s (18.75% buyer’s premium) recent sale in North Shields.

Having been heavily criticised for its antiquated designs at the World Exhibition of 1900 in Paris, the Meissen porcelain factory commissioned avant-garde designers to produce more vibrant pieces.

“A fabulous example of how an auctioneer can sell these collections so successfully outside of London,” said Dreweatts’ (25% buyer’s premium) managing director Jonathan Pratt in the wake of Donnington Priory’s latest auction of European furniture and works of art.

This 14in (25cm) diameter bronze bell shown here bears the insignia of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (the Dutch East India Company or VOC), the date 1747 and the name Jaffanapatnam. It is suspended in a wrought iron frame and mounted to a large stone mill wheel.