Auctions

Swiss Alpine scene takes top spot in a family consignment as UK sale reveals considerable demand

Among the earliest examples of Australian gold rush jewellery are the simple signet rings sold to miners in the settlement of Ballarat in the 1850s as a memento of the boomtown days.

The London-based design company Isokon, which produced furniture by Wells Coates and Marcel Breuer, and Gerald Summers’ firm Makers of Simple Furniture both explored the radical possibilities of lamination.

As the Depression took hold, the clamour for luxury goods in tropical hardwoods, silver and shagreen was replaced by a demand for less expensive consumer goods that combined the modern aesthetic with new materials and industrial production.

Choice examples of British embroidery crossed the block at Brunk Auctions (23% buyer’s premium) in Asheville, North Carolina.

The debut novel by F Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), This Side of Paradise, was a sensation on its release in March 1920.

Shelley produced the geometric Vogue and Mode shape tea and coffee wares between 1930-32 - both the designs of Eric Slater (1902-84) who had worked at the factory since the end of the First World War.

New Zealand-born architect Keith Murray (1892-1981) began to make designs for Wedgwood on a commercial basis in 1933, joining a stable of designers that included Daisy Makeig-Jones and John Skeaping.

With this year marking the 100th anninversary of the exhibition that gave Art Deco its name, we report on the British designers whose creations appear on the market

The Fine Sale on March 26 at Cheffins in Cambridge included a group of pictures consigned by a descendant of the artist known as Philip Villamil of Jamaica (1814-78).

Packaging takes Japanese manga character toy ‘worth up to $20,000’ on its own to $100,000 instead

Graham Slater (1927-2024) was fascinated by relics of Stuart and Georgian Britain. His wife Rosemary shared his passions, including his love of mudlarking, exploring the banks of the Thames for fragments washed up by each new tide.

A sword presented to one of only three Jewish winners of the Victoria Cross in the Second World War has sold for a hammer price of £7200 at Plymouth saleroom Eldreds (20% buyer’s premium).

The Brontë Parsonage was the successful bidder at £32,000 (plus premium) when an original watercolour drawing by Emily Brontë came for sale in London.