Duke's

Serendipity had it that two Regency pollard oak and ebony inlaid desks attributed to George Bullock (c.1762-1818) came for sale within a matter of hours on June 12.

Recent auction sales shone the spotlight on pioneering photographers active in the first days of the art

More pieces appear from a collection that survived a couple of devastating blazes at the family home

Duke’s September 11 sale of Jewellery, Watches, Silver and Currency includes a fine array of vintage and second-hand branded wristwatches.

A pale blue and white striped garment offered at Martin & Pole’s (22% buyer’s premium) General Auction on August 7 was simply described as an “antique silk dress, appears in a photograph worn by Esther Palmer in around 1925”.

I have frequently locked horns with auction houses over their increasing postage costs.

Porcelain from the Staffordshire factory takes up half a sale – and it’s just the first part of a huge collection

More paintings on offer in Dorest saleroom from the Cornish ‘school’ show the market strength

The opening section of Duke’s latest Art & Design post 1880 sale was devoted to the ‘forgotten’ artist Kathleen Muriel Scale (1913-2006).

The Art & Design post 1880 sale at Duke’s in Dorchester on April 25 included 44 lots of William De Morgan tiles consigned by descendants of Arthur James Balfour (1848-1930), Earl of Balfour and prime minister from 1902-05. He is understood to have bought them directly from De Morgan in Fulham.

The distinctive Anglo-Japanese tables designed by the architect GW Godwin in the later part of the 19th century are known as Smallhythe tables, after the example found in Smallhythe Place in Kent which was the home of the actress Ellen Terry.

Country house contents, global interest and a packed room of bidders - what more could an auctioneer wish for?

A selection of previews from three British sales and another in Germany