Auctioneers

The Spink (20% buyer’s premium) sale on April 23 that included the Rorke’s Drift medal awarded to ‘Ammunition Smith’ (see News, ATG No 2742) also featured several other notable lots.

Banker and businessman Jörg Woltmann, who rescued the Berlin porcelain manufacturer, now also acquires a huge vase by the firm.

Personal stories grab the attention of militaria collectors, transforming dry histories of dates and names, facts and figures into real-life flesh and blood tales.

During the First World War aviators of the Royal Flying Corps suffered from the cold over the Western Front. A solution was the ’fug boot’.

Richard Winterton (22% buyer’s premium) offered what was described simply as a “post Second World War” leather flying helmet with goggles and gas mask on May 21 in Tamworth.

Auction lots for a while now have demonstrated a factor which may be termed a ‘Malta premium’.

Serendipity had it that two of the so-called Wilton Marbles, formerly in the celebrated collection of the Earls of Pembroke at Wilton House in Salisbury, appeared for sale within a week.

The two opening lots of Chorley’s Modern Art & Design sale on June 2 were a walnut and ebony secretaire cabinet and a dresser designed and made by Arts & Crafts titan Sidney Barnsley (1865-1926).

The latest round of art auctions in Ireland showed a marked buoyancy with totals and selling rates up on recent years.

The French sculptor Paul Comolera (1818-1897) first appears in the Minton records in October 1873 and is listed until 1876. During this short time, he created some of Minton’s greatest models of animals which were often observed from life.

Pelé’s Brazil 1958 match-worn World Cup final shirt is up for auction with an estimate ‘in excess of $6m’.

West Sussex firm has made the trunks something of a speciality after four five-figure sales in a decade

This early 20th century Russian silver and cloisonné enamel pill box measuring just 1½in (3.5cm) across bears marks for Fabergé and Feodor Ruckert (1840-1917).

The Japanese netsuke carver Naito Toyomasa (1773-1856) was renowned for his miniature portrayals of animals in a distinctive, highly detailed style.