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Two mixed lots of Victorian dust-pressed tiles sold for multi-estimate sums at Mander (24% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Sudbury on November 30. Key to their appeal were the inclusion of near sets of tiles made by Minton Hollins & Co to designs by Arts & Crafts luminaries.

Bidders respond positively to auction combination of quality, freshness and pricing.

Darwin and Newton impress in US auction while Adam Smith brings wealthy sums.

Online buying: realised prices at auctions on thesaleroom.com

The sale at flood-hit Bamfords (21% buyer’s premium) on October 30 included chattels from the estate of Lady Elizabeth Georgiana Alice Cavendish (1926-2018), daughter of the 10th Duke of Devonshire of nearby Chatsworth House.

Musical manuscript and portrait on song in salerooms.

In the third multi-million-pound sale this year of a rediscovered Old Master at a provincial French auction house, a late Gothic panel offered at Cortot & Associés of Dijon brought a dramatic competition late last month.

This rare piece of Cork silver of Irish Republican interest sold for £4000 (plus 23% premium) at Sworders latest sale.

After a 17-minute bidding battle, a Chinese blue and white bottle vase with a Daoguang (1820-50) six-character seal mark was hammered down for £270,000 at Gorringe’s in Lewes, East Sussex.

Two recently restituted panels by Sienese artist Giovanni di Paolo (c.1399-1482) lifted the latest series of Old Master auctions in London.

An autograph painting by German artist Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-79) was one of the stand-out sales during London Art Week (LAW).