Auctions

Among the highlights of last week’s Islamic and Indian art sales in London was this late Safavid portrait of a mercenary in the Persian army painted in the cosmopolitan city of Isfahan c.1680-90.

The record for a British coin has been broken again with the sale at Heritage Auctions in Dallas of an Edward VIII proof pattern £5 for $1.9m (£1.39m).

“I joined up as a youngster for a bit of fun, but it didn’t turn out like that. We were young men made old before our time.”

With hindsight, the boast made by the Flying Steam Company – 'To China in Twenty-Four Hours Certain' – was a tad ambitious.

A note penned in December 1963 by Mary Elizabeth Smith from The Mendips, Menlove Avenue, Liverpool, to a Miss V Stoker of 54 Pirton Road, Hitchin, sold for £1300 to a UK online bidder at Wolverhampton saleroom Cuttlestones (17.5% buyer’s premium) on March 19.

Classic Hammer Horror film posters are always popular at auction. This example below was probably the first UK quad release of The Hound of The Baskervilles (1959) starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

This set of 11 toby jugs modelled as the Allied commanders of the First World War made by Wilkinson will be offered at Skinner in Massachusetts from April 12-22.

While the Grand Hotel, Birmingham, may not have the same ring as Hotel California, in the Sixties it was the place to check in. And even leave afterwards.

The late Michael Armstrong was such a film fanatic that when the local cinema closed in his home town in 1993 he opened his own mini replica in his garage, complete with recycled fixtures and fittings.

Talented amateur artist enjoyed riding excursions with the author to antiquarian sites

A highlight of the Omega (28% buyer’s premium inc VAT) Punk, Indie & New Wave auction on January 26 was an original listing poster for the Sex Pistols’ ill-fated 1976 Anarchy tour.

Three previously unheard tracks by the band that went on to become Radiohead surfaced thanks to a demo cassette that sold at Merseyside auction house Omega (28% buyer’s premium inc VAT).

More Mod Brit delights from the Freer collection kept in a house full to bursting point

Portraits boosted takings at Mallams’ (24% buyer’s premium) latest picture sale in Oxford.

A Sèvres cabaret service painted with portraits of famous women was a New Year’s gift from a French empress