Auctions

Between 1923, when he opened his workshop and 1935, the year he dissolved his company, the French goldsmith Jean Trotain primarily produced vanity cases and cigarette boxes for many of the most prominent designers of the Art Deco era.

Our selection of lots from 12 upcoming auctions

Although the size of the collecting audience is changing - and the arrival or departure of just one or two committed buyers can make a significant difference to prices - British provincial wares can command decent prices.

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.

A collection of miner’s lamps at Bamfords (24.75% buyer’s premium) in Derby included a pair of patent lamps by William Purdy.

The Autumn Auction at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (26/25% buyer’s premium) in Exeter included an array of unusual objects from the collection of the late Christopher Hawkings.

Artists who had been achieving modest levels of success are catching up with the help of young collectors

The first-ever Leica die-cast camera, dating to 1933-34 and created by the Oskar Barnack, the father of modern 35mm photography, appeared as a landmark lot in the sixth sale from Wetzlar Camera Auctions (21.01% buyer’s premium) - held in the hometown of the manufacturer.

When he was 24, Carl Blechen abandoned his intended profession as a banker and devoted himself to painting.

In his magnus opus Memorials of the Jeypore Exhibition, 1883, Thomas Holbein Hendley (1847-1917) documents what he called “a new and most interesting style of engraved silver plate developed in Alwar”.

Dressing table sets are among the most frequently surviving elements of late 17th century hollowware.

Highlights from the The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper offered at Forum

A bronze by the French artist and sculptor Henri Gaudier- Brzeska (1891-1915), who died in the trenches aged just 23, was among the lots bringing demand at Tennants’ (24% buyer’s premium) latest sale of Modern & Contemporary art.

In storage for a century, a remarkable group of Chinese works of art has sold for £870,000 at a south London auction.

Old Master and Daumier artwork, bronze figure and Italian porcelain all on offer over three days

Star of the show at Auktionhaus Heilbronn’s (21.7% buyer’s premium) latest sale of tinplate toys was a rare three-carriage Märklin train from the Rheinuferbahn, the line from Cologne and Bonn along the banks of the Rhine.

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

Wind in the Willows illustration leads varied selection of lots offered by west London saleroom

In the early years of the 20th century toy trains made in Germany were also aimed at the British domestic market, eagerly sold by retailers such as Gamages.

With the scrap price of silver at such a high level the sad truth is that many items will end up in the melting pot.