Auctions

The 18th and 19th centuries were the golden age of topaz.

The watch-makers in the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland were a textbook 19th century cottage industry – typically self-employed men, and some women, working either in the ateliers based in the hamlet of Crêt-Meylan or at home. Seldom did they receive credit for their great skill.

Two pictures relating to the family of former US president George HW Bush added to catalogue raisonné

Cathedrals, palaces and abbeys were also among the sights featured as British tourism developed

This Flemish Baroque carved ebony table cabinet shown below opens to reveal intricate silk needlework images of flowers to the inside of its three doors.

Our selection of lots from 11 upcoming auctions

While May’s series of UK Asian art auctions lacks the overall focus of the Asian Art in London initiative in the autumn or the pomp of other spring events in New York or Hong Kong, it remains a key moment in the calendar.

Two choice British documents emerged across two different sales at Amherst, New Hampshire firm RR Auction (25% buyer’s premium).

The group of Chinese ‘export’ silver offered by Gorringe’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Lewes on April 21 came by descent from Reginald Follett Codrington Hedgeland (1874-1967), an Oxford graduate from Exeter who joined the Chinese Maritime Customs Service in 1898.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish books and works on paper sales

Cardiff auction indicates latest demand trends influencing the market for leading Welsh painter Sir Kyffin Williams

While many people have a decided aversion to pigeons, this did not apply to the bidders at Kiefer (25% buyer’s premium) in Pforzheim, Germany.

Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African, tells the remarkable story of an African born on a British slave ship who earned a place among the London elite.

An Irish Regency overmantel mirror in Egyptian Revival style by the Dublin artisan Joshua Kearney (1797-1849) hammered for $22,000 (£16,400) against a $6000-8000 guide at Andrew Jones Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Los Angeles.

An item of great interest for me was the small pocket knife that was recently sold together with its own story from the Titanic disaster* [see Previews, ATG No 2739].