Auctioneers

More than 20 yards of Morris & Co fabric and two Howard & Son chairs were among a group of lots consigned to auction in Wiltshire with a provenance to Haselbech Hall, Northampton, and the Bower Ismay family.

A pottery has stood in the Welsh village of Ewenny for five centuries but, with a few exceptions, the collecting market does tend to focus on the decorative slipwares produced under the influence of the Arts & Crafts movement.

In terms of numbers, both in component parts and the sum achieved, a collection of over 200 miniature books published by David Bryce of Glasgow (1845-1923) was a stand-out lot in a recent London sale.

A ‘Russian’ tunic from Chanel’s famed Spring 1922 collection sold for €100,000 (£86,000) in Paris – a record for her early work.

An Arts & Crafts goblet soared over estimate last week to land in the stock of dealer Anthony Bernbaum of The Peartree Collection, who recognised it as the work of John Paul Cooper (1869-1933).

Setting a major record for Duncan Grant (1885-1978) and equalling the highest price for any Bloomsbury Group picture, a painting depicting his fellow artist and close friend (and one-time lover) Vanessa Bell sold for £260,000 at Bonhams.

Chiswick Auctions has been busy recruiting since the move to new premises at the Barley Mow Centre in September.

A Tyne and Wear auction house has relocated and rebranded.

When coming across a female artist who was once quite recognised but now is rather little known, buyers today automatically ask the question: ‘Is she undervalued?’

A few copies have made a little more, but the example of the original, 1826, folio edition of Jacob George Strutt’s 'Sylva Britannica, or Portraits of Forest Trees…' included in a November 8 sale at Reeman Dansie (20% buyer’s premium) sold for £3500 (guide £600-800).

Once thought to have been made in antiquity, bucklers are now understood to have been late medieval or Tudor small shields.

The most desirable of the varied wares produced by the small ceramics factory established by Vilmos Zsolnay (1828-1900) in the south-west Hungarian town of Pecs are those created after the 1890s.

Calculations on planetary movements rise to the occasion in New York saleroom

Top result from the October 26 arms and armour auction at Munich saleroom Hermann Historica (25% buyer’s premium) was a 5ft 6in (1.67m) two-hand sword made by the acclaimed bladesmith Wolfgang Stantler II of Passau, c.1580.

On account of its extraordinary appearance, the Nock seven-barrelled flintlock volley gun has become something of an icon of warfare in the Age of Sail.

This Victorian purse gun was designed by Oscar Frankenau from Nuremberg and patented in both the UK and the US in 1876.

Lalique glass and Travel & Vintage Posters (conducted in partnership with specialist firm Tomkinson Churcher) were offered at a recent Lyon & Turnbull (26% buyer’s premium) auction at the Mall Galleries.

British Modernist designer’s inter-war plywood creations are now seen as pioneering works

Mountainous scenes by Edward Theodore Compton (1849-1921) make regular appearances at auctions in Germany and Austria, where he tended to paint and retains a strong collecting base, as well as in the UK.

The Stroud engineer Edwin Beard Budding (1796-1846) is considered the inventor of the lawnmower (1830) and the adjustable spanner (1842).