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Sold at Bonhams last week, the emerald in this Art Deco brooch is a clue to the remarkable life of its one-time owner Lady Hood.

A Régence period giltwood table attracted interest from across the trade, taking £52,000 (estimate £5000- 8000) at Lots Road Auctions (22% buyer’s premium).

London and Petworth dealer Timothy Langston Fine Art & Antiques has sold a portrait of the Regency period antiquarian Sir William Gell (1777-1836) to the British Museum.

A tribal war club from the Marquesas Islands with textbook provenance has sold for £71,000 at Woolley & Wallis. The u’u (head club) came for sale at the Salisbury saleroom from the descendants of an early-19th century missionary.

The first tranche of a private collection of predominantly Far Eastern maps and charts sold for more than £500,000 at Reeman Dansie and included a house record.

A poignant background story or strong suggestion of original ownership greatly adds to the appeal of early jewellery finds often unearthed by metal detectors

Boosted by the contents of a fine country home, the autumn sale at Cheffins (22.5% buyer’s premium) enjoyed moments of floor-to-ceiling success.

Just a little less famous than Fry’s 'Five Boys' image is the illustration by Tom Browne of a multi-class group outside a sweetshop with the line from 'Troilus and Cressida: One touch of Nature makes the whole World kin'.

Although the Hugo Lonitz factory produced a range of domestic tablewares and small collectables, it is best known for its naturalistic majolica groups, particularly animal and bird examples modelled in lifelike size and detail.

Auction includes collection of Modernist works breaking away from south Asian tradition

Despite surface dirt and other condition issues, a painting of Naples drew a dramatic bidding competition at a recent auction in Rome.

Interest in glyphic art, which reached its collecting apogee during the Grand Tour collecting, is resurgent once more.

Pictured here is a Renaissance ring set with five point-cut diamonds – typical of the most opulent jewels produced in 16th century Venice. It forms part of the 35-piece private collection of precious stone dealer Benjamin Zucker that will be offered for sale at Les Enluminures in New York from October 24-November 9.

Variety was certainly in evidence in a West Sussex sale, where the teenage journal of a young stained-glass maker, two broadside ballads and an illustrated dummy for 'Down with Skool!' all brought much higher than predicted bids.