Auctioneers

Works by Modern British artists dominated the latest series of Modern and Contemporary art auctions in London.

This “incredibly rare elaborate, fantastical and exquisitely carved” oak draw-leaf table, dating from the Golden Age of the English Renaissance, stood out at the Paul Fitzsimmons – A Life in Oak sale.

A rare drawing by Matthias Buchinger (1674-1740), the remarkable 18th-century German artist born without hands or feet, is going under the hammer at Cheffins on March 25 estimated at £1000-1500.

A rare silver multi-functional gentleman’s tool by the celebrated firm Holtzapffel & Co proved to be the stand-out lot at Flints' latest sale.

The Oscar Wilde Collection formed over 60 years by bibliophile and former dealer in Oriental antiques Jeremy Mason prompted collectors to come out in force and was 100% sold at Bonhams (28/27% buyer’s premium) in Knightsbridge.

Georgian regalia from two famous Scottish regiments was sold by Railtons (20% buyer’s premium) in Wooler, Northumberland, on February 20.

Among a selection of 19th and early 20th century pictures at Anderson & Garland’s (25% buyer’s premium) latest Fine Art Auction was an attractive painting by Elizabeth Adela Forbes (1859-1912).

Medals expert familiar to millions through the Antiques Roadshow chats about his latest book telling a very personal story.

A medal with nine clasps from a soldier who was wounded in the head and twice in the thigh during the Peninsular War stood out in a recent sale held by Stanley Gibbons Baldwin’s (23% buyer’s premium).

Japanned Jennens & Bettridge creation gains value as rare survivor in such good condition

The New Orphan Houses in the Ashley Down district in the north of Bristol were once the largest orphanages in the UK.

London numismatic auction house Morton & Eden (23% buyer’s premium) sold a silver plaquette by the great Dutch silversmith Paulus van Vianen (1570-1613) for £130,000 at a recent sale.

Latest result for a ‘not in the face of the enemy’ award underlines how such honours have become a popular collecting field

If you look closely at both Lady Butler and Alphonse de Neuville’s paintings of what is probably the most famous British colonial action of the 19th century – Rorke’s Drift – you can pick out a man with a long, thick red beard wearing a blue tunic.

Despite the brief cataloguing of lot 129 in the Ellis Willis & Beckett (21.5% buyer’s premium) sale, the £4200 hammer price on February 17 indicated that bidders had fought it out for something special.

Across the Georgian period a number of diminutive ‘bachelor’s’ teapots were produced that were probably intended for brewing saffron.

The artist Joseph Lindon Smith (1863-1950) is considered one of the most important figures in 20th century American Egyptology.