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The sale of a £200,000 Chinese vase in Suffolk completed a trio of house records across the regions that belied the usually quiet auction season.

When auctioneer Tony Pratt spotted a mysterious shape in the undergrowth of a back garden in Hythe he wasn’t expecting to uncover a very large pottery bear.

A sketch attributed to John Constable (1776-1837) uncovered in a Holland Park home is to be offered at auction in Maidenhead – the latest in a string of Constable sketch discoveries.

A curator of archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum in York and an assistant curator of ceramics at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent are among the winners of the Art Fund’s latest annual New Collecting Awards.

The dealers of Tetbury who trade with the Continent are determined to work through whatever turbulence Brexit may bring. A no-deal departure, likely to result in tariffs and customs checks, would present problems for import and export of stock.

Shown below is ‘Un Baleinobus’, one of a rare series of 78 chromlitho illustrations featured on eight uncut stock cards or sheets that sold for £1000 as part of a Hansons (20% buyer’s premium) sale of July 31.

ATG's regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

'View from the Back of 72 Bute Street' is one of the pictures by Welsh painter Charles Burton available at Martin Tinney Gallery this month.

In May 1983 the eyes of arms and armour bidders were fixed firmly on the £6m sale of the Hever Castle collection at Sotheby’s in London.

Fine sets of pistols, preferably nicely cased, have long been the mainstay of London arms and armour sales. This season’s crop were not as plentiful nor so eagerly contested as we sometimes see, but there were some gems on offer and a selection of them are illustrated here.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period August 1-7, 2019. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Fine German sidelock ejectors do not feature often in the London salerooms but Gavin Gardiner’s 25% buyer’s premium) May 1 sale of sporting guns at Sotheby’s in London produced a pair that not only scored on quality but had a history to back it up.

Private buying dominated as Essex saleroom Sworders (23% buyer’s premium) offered the selected contents of a Cotswold manor house.

Published in 1851 by Richard Bentley as The Whale, the first English edition of Herman Melville’s tale preceded the American issue by four weeks.

Our weekly selection from salerooms.

Large 18th century English doll passed by descent is a highlight of toy auctions.

Edged weapons from the East were also an important part of the sale held by Czerny (20% buyer’s premium) in Sarzano, Italy, on June 16.