Auctioneers

Sailor’s sweethearts or valentines were once thought to have been made by sailors as love tokens during their long trips away from home.

Playing cards displaying maps lead a look at a Gloucestershire sale

“Analogous to the Tunbridge ware but of a superior character” was Robert Russell’s description of his work at the 1851 Great Exhibition.

Colourful work with provenance back to artist’s sister catches the attention in Kent saleroom

The highlight of Tajan’s (25/20/12%buyer’s premium) Old Masters auction held on June 22 was an impressive large-scale modello created by the Italian artist Francesco Solimena (1657-1747) in preparation for his painting for the ceiling of San Domenico Maggiore, in Naples.

Austrian auction house Dorotheum will open a new office in Hamburg providing valuations and exhibitions. The office will be run by Dr Catherine, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein, who joins as the new managing director of Dorotheum Germany and new director of Dorotheum Hamburg.

Among the very rarest bottles to appear for sale in recent months was a miniature shaft and globe in dark aqua glass, c.1650, sold in South Yorkshire.

A new record for a Royal Doulton figure has been set in Stoke-on-Trent.

The sale of Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh on July 13 included a document signed by the adventurer and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh (1554-1618).

Two Scottish auction houses have merged to form a new operation: Thomson Roddick Callan.

Just as the title reads, this album offered by Mellors & Kirk in Nottingham contains Specimens of Needle-Work Executed in the Female Model School, Kildare-Place, Dublin.

A recent sale held by Thomson Roddick (18% buyer’s premium) of Carlisle, one that included further items of local interest from the library of the late Maurice Cole, was led by one of the newer books on offer.

Mentmore (Towers) in Buckinghamshire was built in 1852-4 by Sir Joseph Paxton – creator of the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition – and Paxton’s son-in-law GH Stokes for Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild.

‘The Gregson House’ and its contents date from the early Victorian period.

Glamorous portraits of wealthy women such as Lady Northcliffe command the highest prices

A romanticised view of Venice by Austrian painter Franz Richard Unterberger (1838-1902) led the latest fine art sale staged by Cambridge saleroom Cheffins (24.5% buyer’s premium).

Estimated at £40-60, a pair of puce decorated creamware plates sold for a surprise £2000 at Bamfords (21% buyer’s premium) in Derbyshire.