Auctioneers

While Americans demonstrated by throwing tea into the harbour, the British registered complaints by putting the leaves into suitably decorated teapots.

Now well-established London auction house marks landmark with a wide-ranging sale

It was a case of the cows coming home after 30 years for one buyer at a recent auction.

The sale of July 15 proved to be its most successful since lockdown for auction house Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium).

Estimated at £100-150, this pair of 4in (11cm) Chinese vases sold for an estimate-busting £39,000 at Gorringe’s (23% buyer’s premium) in Lewes.

Every lot of a collection of Meissen porcelain, restituted earlier this year to the heirs of Dr Franz Oppenheimer, was sold in a recent US sale.

A portrait of Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift that has hung at Howth Castle since 1735 sold for €234,000 (£200,000) this month.

This rare Victorian silver vesta case with an enamelled scene of an early tiller-driven automobile is hallmarked for Sampson Mordan & Co, London 1896.

As 1980s rocker Shakin’ Stevens once sang: ‘Green Door, what’s that secret you’re keeping?’

Serving in the Glider Pilot Regiment was a tough task during the Second World War.

Prices for good-quality writing desks continue to recover – as was evident when a George II example more than tripled top hopes.

Fellows’ Fine Jewellery sale in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter on September 30 includes an extraordinary collection of 63 mourning rings.

This large Ottoman metal thread and silk hanging features a dedication to Sultan Ahmed III (1673-1736).

A recent sale at Wotton Auction Rooms (21.6% buyer’s premium) in Wotton-Under-Edge included this set of three yellow metal fobs set with carnelian intaglios.

This 1932 linocut is by the Swiss artist Lill Tschudi (1911-2004), who studied at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art.