Auctioneers

Siege money or ‘money of necessity’ was minted in Newark in 1646 during the town’s third siege and the last year of the First English Civil War.

Cyrene, founded by Greeks c.631BC in the uplands near present-day Shahhat in Libya, reached the height of its prosperity in the 5th century BC.

On April 14, 1746, two days before the battle that would seal his fate, Charles Edward Stuart held a lavish meal at Culloden House, the highland estate owned by Hanoverian loyalist Duncan Forbes (1685-1747) that had recently been commandeered by Jacobite forces.

Following an upturn in the fortunes of the silver trade in York, an assay office reopened there in 1776 and remained active until final closure in 1858.

Although condition remains a pivotal factor in the Old Master market, a number of lots sold recently in the UK regions suggest increasing interest for works that represent a promising restoration project.

An intriguing variation on an Old Master sparked a strong competition at Parker Fine Art (25% buyer’s premium) earlier this summer.

The rarest Scottish provincial town marks, known only from spoons and ladles, are those of Stonehaven, Ellon and Keith.

A tin of coins and medals consigned to Morton & Eden’s autumn sale included a number of early pieces from the American colonial period.

Starting his collection with a 1568 sixpence purchased in Swanage in 1957, marine insurance broker Christopher Comber (1944-2019) formed a remarkable collection of Elizabeth I coins.

Many of the lots in a June 16 sale of books, maps and pictures held by Thomson Roddick (18% buyer’s premium) in Carlisle came from the collections of the late Dr George Kozikowski of Skye, a microbiologist, archaeologist and antiquarian of Polish descent.

Collection now up for sale was owned by soldier killed in Korea but kept safe by his brother

The sale at Sovereign Rarities on September 21 includes this Charles I (1625-49), silver pattern unite (20 shillings) dated 1630.

While 19th century American-made needlework quilts can often sell for substantial four and even five-figure sums, it is a rare that an English example brings as much as this one offered at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) on August 21.

Watches with military associations carry a certain cachet with collectors.

With the unusual provenance of having been dug out of a London sewer during excavations in 1930, the 15th or early 16th century copper alloy candlestick shown here underlined the truth of the maxim that where there’s muck there’s brass.

This iron model of a hawk above is a striking example of a jizai okimono – lifelike, articulated animal figures popular in the last decades of Edo-period and Meiji Japan.

Having secured his prize for a notably higher than estimate sum, the buyer of a ‘Fireball XLV’ artwork told Malcolm Phillips of Comic Book Auctions (19% buyer’s premium) that very few artworks by its creator, Mike Noble, ever come to auction.

“The initial appeal of an object is always visual, and that is where the journey begins; research follows, and one is taken across the culture and geographical area which are both influencing forces on any work of art.”

Mithradates VI was ruler of the Hellenistic kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120-63BC and one of the Roman republic’s most formidable and determined opponents.

A group of works by painter, printmaker and war artist Edward Ardizzone (1900-79) was offered at Lawrences’ latest picture sale in Crewkerne, with eight lots coming from the artist’s family.