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Estimated at just £30-50, a late 19th century sampler sold via thesaleroom.com for £1850 at Wotton Auction Rooms (18% buyer’s premium) in Gloucestershire. A clue to the appeal is the inscription 'M Mountain, 5 Orphan House, Ashley Down, Bristol, 1879'.

Collected by a Scottish enthusiast, 26 railway station totems – the enamel signs introduced across the UK by newly nationalised British Rail in 1948 – gained UK-wide interest at McTear’s (24% buyer’s premium) in Glasgow.

A highlight of the Summer’s Bounty Auction held by Thomaston Place Auction Galleries (17%/20% online buyer’s premium) of Maine was this British reverse glass painting dated to the late 18th century.

Nestlé, today a Swiss multinational corporation, was a much smaller company when this rare lithographed showcard was made.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Sotheby’s has introduced a new fee called an ‘Overhead Premium’ that is payable by all auction buyers across its salerooms and online auctions globally.

Is this the silver cup given by Bonnie Prince Charlie to a trusted aide for his role in returning Jacobite gold to France? Auction house Spink and dealer Martyn Downer believe it is and are looking for a buyer at around £150,000.

A terracotta sculpture of Mary Seacole (1805-81) sparked fierce competition at Dominic Winter.

A mid-16th century 54-bore south German breech-loading wheel-lock holster pistol trebled its top estimate to take £75,000 at a recent sale held by Thomas Del Mar.