Lawrences of Crewkerne

Lawrences of Crewkerne is offering a charming picture of two dogs on July 21 that the auction house last sold in the 1950s.

The sale of 19th and 20th Century Ceramics at Lawrences in Crewkerne on July 22 includes two coil-built terracotta vessels by the Kenyan-born potter Dame Magdalene Odundo (b.1950).

Estimated at just £80-150, a Queen Anne or George I period needlework sampler sold for £10,000 via thesaleroom.com at Lawrences (25% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne.

The popularity of the tiara, that reached its peak in the decades before the onset of the First World War when diamonds from South Africa were in plentiful supply, has fluctuated across the 20th century in line with prosperity and fashion.

Four early pieces of Newcastle plate and a selection of other silver rarities sold at auction this autumn

As hugely personal items and of relatively small melt value, spoons represent the great majority of English domestic silver items surviving from the pre-civil war period.

Our weekly selection from salerooms.

This curious object is the forerunner of a million Christmas cracker prizes. Made in gold and silver, c.1830, the ‘ring’ chased with flowers includes a tiny pin hole which allows a jet of water to be squirted into the face of an unsuspecting admirer via a syringe-like plunger that can be concealed in the palm.

Principal attraction in a Crewkerne book sale at Lawrences (25% buyers premium) was the Browning family archive that featured as Pick of the Week in ATG No 2459, but three other items from that 370 lot sale are noted here.

Whisky has been a booming market in recent years, says Simon Jones, associate director at Lawrences (25% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne.

Lawrences’ (25% buyer’s premium) sale in Crewkerne on September 10 featured three swords that came to auction from the family of the ‘Father of the RAF’: Viscount Trenchard GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO (1873-1956).

Early work by the Plymouth artist portrays himself alongside German alchemist

A cache of material related to the influential Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61) and her family sold for close to £50,000 at Lawrences of Crewkerne.

This Egyptian polychrome painted wood sarcophagus mask comes from the lid of an anthropoid coffin. These were coffins carved to the outline of the mummy’s body and decorated with the face and wig of the deceased.

The Robert Thompson firm produced shire horses, such as this example offered by Lawrences (25% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne on July 23, from the 1960s-90s.

Sapphires come in a range of hues from colourless to blue. The ‘fancy’ canary yellow stones, caused by trace amounts of iron, are particularly desirable - the best found in Sri Lanka.

Pair thought to be Derby are rated as Gilbody rarities by specialist and dealer who competed

Good art at a great price in regional sales

Late work by the pivotal avant-garde painter belies the dark nature of earlier works