Auctioneers

The Saunders collection seems to have been the consignment that Sotheby’s could not afford to lose.

A 1911 oil sketch by Sir John Lavery (1856-1941) depicting his daughter Eileen astride a white horse generated plenty of competition at AH Wilkens (22% buyer’s premium) in Toronto.

The only known bass drumhead featuring John Bonham’s personal symbol – the interlocking rings that became his mark after Led Zeppelin’s fourth album – hammered at $70,000 (£53,000) at Heritage (25% buyer’s premium) in Dallas.

A suitably psychedelic 1967 poster of Bob Dylan, designed by Martin Sharp, fetched £900 at the James & Sons (25% buyer’s premium inc VAT) auction in Fakenham on January 15.

Now famous for a career of filling stadiums as one of the biggest and most successful bands in the world, Pink Floyd played more humble venues back in the day.

Nine-strong collection of Georgian and Victorian games counts as a highlight of mixed auction

Pictured below are three fine silver and enamel cigarette cases dating from the turn of the 20th century sold at auction in recent weeks.

The popular dealer amassed an impressive array of items assayed in the city

Painted in 1857, 'Young Boy Blowing Bubbles' by John Thomas Peele (1822-97) pre-dates by a generation Sir John Everett Millais’ 1886 oil Bubbles (A Child’s World) made famous in advertisements for Pear’s soap.

From the late 18th century, Birmingham was the centre for the making of ‘toys’ – small decorative objects including boxes, nutmeg graters, buckles, caddy spoons, vinaigrettes and rattles, fashioned from silver.

After what Sloans & Kenyon (23% buyer’s premium) president Stephanie Kenyon deemed “furious bidding that lasted at least five minutes”, a textbook equestrian painting by Benjamin Marshall (1767-1865) trotted to a fine result.

The many models of anthropomorphic primates that proliferated British decorative arts in the 1860s typically reference Charles Darwin’s provocative and often lampooned 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection', first published in 1859.

A recent sale at Shapiro Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) included a picture that would have been familiar to admirers of Spanish Surrealism.

“A Holy Grail moment for collectors worldwide” was the promise from Merseyside auction house Omega (29/35% buyer’s premium inc VAT) when a scarce picture sleeve came for sale.

This 2ft 6in (75cm) high five-light candelabrum hallmarked for Sheffield 1844 and the firm Creswick & Co (Thomas, James and Nathaniel Creswick) is both an impressive example of early Victorian table silver and a memento of the heroic era of polar exploration.

“This has been the biggest single cataloguing job of my career - an extraordinary experience,” said John Silke, vinyl specialist of Surrey saleroom Ewbank’s (25% buyer’s premium).

Spoons are among the very few pieces of English silver surviving from the period of Wars of the Roses.

As part of a Fine Art auction in Surrey on June 25, Catherine Southon is selling a collection of British art exhibition posters from the estate of Professor Zacron (Robert Drew), the maverick artist best known for the album cover of Led Zeppelin III.