Auctioneers

The minaudière, a case for storing several personal items in a small space, first appeared during the 1930s.

With Storm Ciara getting under way (in pre-coronavirus days…) it was not, perhaps, the ideal time to launch the new weekend sales at Canterbury Auction Galleries (20% buyer’s premium).

Three Victorian bangles were among the most popular lots of Dreweatts’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of Fine Jewellery, Silver, Watches and Objects of Vertu.

Topaz in its natural state is a golden brown to yellow, a characteristic which means it is sometimes confused with the less valuable gemstone citrine.

As a young man in the 1960s, British creative designer Anthony Redmile (b.1937) took the London interior design scene by storm. Although his work was hugely eclectic, he became best known for his quirky designs taken from the animal kingdom.

Painting of Evening Star reflects end of an era as coal-fired locomotives started to hit the buffers.

Irish painter William Conor (1881-1968) received many official commissions during a prolific artistic career, including from King George V, but it was his warm and sympathetic portrayals of working-class life in Ulster that are best known today.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a William Gear acrylic painting.

Key to a price tag of £95,000 for a slightly bumped first impression copy of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone' offered in a recent Bonhams sale lay in an inscription.

A recent Stroud Auctions sale featured a private collection of more than 120 pieces of Georgian and Victorian jewellery. Most were rings, among them many examples of mourning jewellery in a wide range of forms and materials.

The London entrepreneur James Cox (c.1723-1800) is best known as a specialist in the intricate clockwork curios encrusted with gold, silver and jewel, referred to as ‘sing-songs.’

This Grand Tour-era ring sold at Great Western Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Glasgow features an unusual banded carnelian intaglio carved with a putti holding the leg of a large grasshopper.

This collection of 10 carnelian intaglios carved to depict classical figures and scenes once formed part of the collection of Prince Stanislas Poniatowski (1754-1833). His past possessions are always of interest to collectors.

Association with the name boosts value as part of a sale dedicated to the poet.

Works by artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) and her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz (1864- 1946), were the chief focus of a sale held by Sotheby’s (25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium) in New York.

An aquamarine pendant telling the story of the founder of the Women’s Land Army and a rare Tudor ring shine at Dix Noonan Webb. By Roland Arkell and John Benjamin.

Comprising essays by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, all of which were published under the same pen name, ‘Publius’, The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution… is a key American contribution to political theory.

Unfortunately it is with enormous sadness that we pass on the news our auctioneer and valuer, Stephen Flintoft, passed away on March 11 after only eight weeks away from us due to illness.