Auctions

The auction market can be a fickle beast, as results for the same items offered on separate occasions sometimes show.

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

Porcelain birth tablets with their roots in Suffolk are unique to the factory

A recent weekly sale at Gorringe’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Lewes included an English porcelain rarity: a blue and white Cannon Ball pattern beaker and cover.

Our regular listing of books and works on paper sales

The hugely versatile Christopher Dresser sold 37 different designs to the Sheffield firm of Dixon and Sons from 1879-82.

Gambling today - particularly card playing - is a largely sanitised affair, occurring in luxurious settings under strict observation in town centre casinos.

A stand-out lot of Bellmans’ (25% buyer’s premium) biannual Fine Clocks auction on December 5 was a chronometer made for the 1874 British expedition to observe the transit of Venus.

Two sales in London offered personal collection of the Hobarts including artists they had championed

Jewellery dating to c.1960 was once owned by well-known women in New York and Palm Beach

Initially conceived of and worn by Madame de Montespan, Louis XIV’s most prominent mistress, to conceal her pregnancies, the robe à la française or sack-back dress became a dominant form of fashion in the mid- to late-18th century.

Pin cushions, including an early 19th century example made from a silk dress believed to be worn by Caroline of Brunswick (1768-1821), were a major feature of a recent auction at Warwick-based Bleasdales’ (20% buyer’s premium).

This oak panelled back armchair can be firmly dated to the Commonwealth period.

Unless you are a golfer, the name Harry Vardon is probably not a familiar one.

Portrait of artist's wife stands out among works by more famous names in Salisbury saleroom

The recipient of this George III period shamshir was once described by military historian Sir John Fortescue as “the bravest man to ever wear a red coat”.