Auctioneers

Qianlong (1735-96) period ‘Boy and chicken’ cups typically pay homage to those made in the Ming period – particularly the celebrated Chenghua (1464-87) doucai prototypes that have long been considered among the greatest Chinese porcelains.

A week after Christie’s (27/22% buyer’s premium) sold a first edition of Wuthering Heights for a record £950,000 hammer (see ATG No 2751), the King Street auction house’s sale of Valuable Books and Manuscripts including Cartography set a new record for a UK various-owner book sale at £10m hammer.

Royal Navy subjects prominent in a white-glove sale at London saleroom Charles Miller

Example dating to 1662 might have touted English master craftswoman’s skills

Fortunino Matania (1881-1963) is renowned for his realistic depictions of the First World War, visiting the front line to see the scenes for himself, and historical and royal subjects.

Among the most eagerly contested lots at Bonhams’ latest sale of Fine Decorative Arts held in Bond Street was this set of four English heraldic beasts c.1600.

A “seminal document of Parliamentary history” has been purchased at auction by dealership Philip Mould & Company for a hammer price of £62,000.

A ‘real tennis’ racquet dating from the reign of King Louis XV of France, used by the first of the great players whose achievements are on record, is being served up at auction.

After moving to a farm at Cropton, North Yorkshire, over the next 25 years Ian David Smith assembled an extensive private collection of horse-drawn vehicles and associated items.

Beatrix Potter was a pioneer of character merchandising. Two years after the publication of the first of her ‘little books’ she designed, fabricated and patented her own Peter Rabbit stuffed toy in 1903 – making him the first ever licensed character.*

A letter by Carl Linnaeus (1707-78), father of modern botany and taxonomy, has set an auction record in his native Sweden.

Dedicated anniversary sale devoted to Robert Thompson centres on three private collections

Not a first edition of the horror classic but the version printed five years later is also sought after

An Elizabethan or early Stuart diamond cluster gold ring found in Wormington, Gloucestershire, in November 2024 was among 14 metal detected jewels offered at Noonans (24% buyer’s premium) in Mayfair.

Clockmaker Brockbank & Atkins of St John’s Square, Clerkenwell, was known as a supplier of mahogany and silvered brass eight-day wall clocks for lighthouses.