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Auctioneer and valuer Clive Stewart-Lockhart has written a new biography of one of British Art Deco’s foremost figures - his great aunt Mary Stewart Lockhart, better known as Betty Joel (1894-1985).

Our selection of lots from 14 upcoming auctions

Aesthetic Movement designers and artists were in thrall to the peacock and its extravagant plumage.

Perhaps it was meant to be a trade sign. Maybe it was commissioned by someone who wanted to decorate a house with a big game trophy but lacked the funds to bag one.

One of the highest prices for a figurative work by Maxwell Ashby Armfield (1881-1972) came at an early spring sale at Plymouth Auction Rooms (20% buyer’s premium).

One lucky bidder landed a top-of-the-line big game fishing rod made expressly for Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961).

Held by the same Dutch family for just over 300 years, a very high-grade Elizabeth I gold Sovereign sold for £75,000 at London coin specialist Sovereign Rarities’ auction on March 13.

Britains is best known as a producer of toy soldiers, but some of its ‘civilian’ figures required a different sort of bunker.

A Tiffany Studios favrile glass window depicting a tree-fringed river leading to distant mountains took $450,000 (£347,000) at DuMouchelles (24% buyer’s premium) in Detroit, Michigan.

These two silver lots bear the mark of Henry George Murphy (1884-1939), whose Falcon Studio produced some of the finest English silver of the inter-war era.

Only a decade ago Carlton Ware designer Violet Elmer (1907-88) was a relative unknown compared with her contemporaries Clarice Cliff, Susie Cooper and Charlotte Rhead.