Auctioneers

Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier had a long and distinguished career, making a name for himself with his many-figured paintings of historical meetings.

If The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers are to your liking, a large single-owner collection of military medals comprising nearly 100 lots dedicated to the regiment offered in Somerset on May 28 would have caught your eye.

Bidders spot copy of 1631 Barker bible that contains jaw-dropping mistakes missed in proof-reading

Since it was purchased at Sotheby’s in London in 1935, a painting by Pieter Brueghel the Younger had remained in possession of the family of a Swiss collector.

“The Russians opened fire on our right, on our left, and then in front...

Guided at £800-1200, a 10in (26cm) medieval ‘rotating’ or ‘register’ bookmark sold at £7000 at Semley Auctioneers (22% buyer’s premium) in Shaftesbury, Dorset on May 16.

The Spink (20% buyer’s premium) sale on April 23 that included the Rorke’s Drift medal awarded to ‘Ammunition Smith’ (see News, ATG No 2742) also featured several other notable lots.

Banker and businessman Jörg Woltmann, who rescued the Berlin porcelain manufacturer, now also acquires a huge vase by the firm.

Personal stories grab the attention of militaria collectors, transforming dry histories of dates and names, facts and figures into real-life flesh and blood tales.

During the First World War aviators of the Royal Flying Corps suffered from the cold over the Western Front. A solution was the ’fug boot’.

Richard Winterton (22% buyer’s premium) offered what was described simply as a “post Second World War” leather flying helmet with goggles and gas mask on May 21 in Tamworth.

Auction lots for a while now have demonstrated a factor which may be termed a ‘Malta premium’.

Serendipity had it that two of the so-called Wilton Marbles, formerly in the celebrated collection of the Earls of Pembroke at Wilton House in Salisbury, appeared for sale within a week.

The two opening lots of Chorley’s Modern Art & Design sale on June 2 were a walnut and ebony secretaire cabinet and a dresser designed and made by Arts & Crafts titan Sidney Barnsley (1865-1926).

The latest round of art auctions in Ireland showed a marked buoyancy with totals and selling rates up on recent years.