Auctioneers

The latest Old Master auctions in London produced the highest total for a December series for seven years.

The city of Newcastle enjoyed a long gold and silversmithing tradition.

A record has been set for a Maori work of art sold at auction in New Zealand.

Numerous pieces of British Aesthetic movement and Arts & Crafts silver were up for sale at Lempertz (26% buyer’s premium) in Cologne on November 21.

While Alan Turing has for some time now quite rightly received credit for his work at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, the contributions of the women who worked there can still be overlooked.

If this view of London by William Richardson (1814-99) looks as if St Paul’s Cathedral has been magically transported to the mouth of the Grand Canal in Venice, that might not be too surprising.

Ernest Gimson (1864-1919), a central figure in the British Arts & Crafts Movement, applied a clear, pared-back design approach influenced by William Morris.

A small number of intriguing 18th and 19th century pictures were among the works bringing the strongest competition in terms of the pictures at Gorringe’s (25% buyer’s premium) latest Fine Art & Interiors auction.

Collector Michael Blood’s passion for Victorian tiles was ignited at Rufford Abbey in Nottinghamshire when two 19th-century examples pressed into his hands during restoration first caught his eye.

The Zena Kwiatkowski Corrigan collection of tiles was sold by Kinghams (26% buyer’s premium) in Moreton-in-Marsh over 291 lots on October 30.

Probably given to Private William George Loveland by his wife, this ‘Soldier Bear’ was taken to France and back during the First World War.

‘Drum’ form mustard pots – known at the time as mustard tankards or cans – first emerged in the second half of the 18th century as the fashion changed from dry to wet mustard.