Auctions

This 19th century French ‘tea drinker’ automaton emerged as part of a single-owner sale at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) of Dorchester.

Early November is always a busy time for pocket watch collectors. In the space of a few days, specialist sales are traditionally held in Switzerland and Germany which offer a broad selection of historical watches for all tastes and most budgets.

The Rolex reference 6150, often dubbed the ‘Pre-Explorer’, was introduced in 1953 and famously tested by various Everest mountaineering expeditions over the coming years, including the first official summit by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953.

‘Settle bindings’ are the name given to a small number of surviving books published between c.1700-23 by Elkanah Settle (1648-1724).

This 1949-51 Massey Ferguson demonstration model by Mills Models of Sheffield comprises Ferguson TE-20 tractor with clockwork mechanism, two different ploughs, rubber wheels and Ferguson badge to front of the grill.

Nine years after taking a premium-inclusive £1375 as part of the The Robert White Collection sale at Bonhams, this Pastilles Valda shop display sales automaton came back to the same auction house in London.

Tether car racing, which began in 1930s California, sounds a strange concept to modern ears but is in fact a hobby still going strong worldwide*.

Some of the earliest dolls’ houses are also referred to as baby houses, although they were more like detailed miniature houses and it is said that the aim was not play but to reflect riches.

ATG’s pick of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com, featuring both the highest prices over-estimate and the top prices paid online.

Auctions with half an eye on the gift-giving season proliferate throughout late November and early December.

The sale of Chinese and other Asian Works of Art at Semley Auctioneers in Shaftesbury, Dorset, included the largest known group of works by the artist Mrs H Clark.

Important Irish mahogany furniture returned to market on November 11 when Brunk Auctions in North Carolina sold the so-called Mississippi Rococo collection of Jerold D Krouse.

On November 25, Gloucestershire auction house Chorley’s is selling the personal collection of Ray Leigh (1928-2025), one of the more significant figures in post-war British design.