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A coffee service decorated in the round by William Powell was one of a quartet of early 20th century Royal Worcester offerings to go way above estimate, largely fuelled by bidding from Vietnam, at Fieldings (20% buyer’s premium).

Late work by the pivotal avant-garde painter belies the dark nature of earlier works

Our weekly selection from salerooms.

A clever piece of marketing from the oil company Shell and with slightly saucy automobile-referenced lines, this Valentine dates from a tradition of sending cards to Shell’s female customers who had accounts at their garages. This ran from 1938-75, apart from an interruption during the war years.

Willem Janszoon Blaeu is one of the more famous names in the history of map and globe making and at Christie’s (25/20/13.5/% buyer’s premium), the tiny pocket globe attributed to him shown here was sold for a treble-estimate £230,000.

For a man who has built his career around teddy bears it is a strange quirk of fate that these inoffensive toys make him feel unwell.

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including Freeman’s of Philadelphia offering a pen and ink sketch by Vincent van Gogh.

Although outwardly simple objects, cedar ‘bent corner’ chests, still made today by the indigenous people of the Pacific North West, employ a number of sophisticated woodworking techniques.

With an Irish silver ‘seal salver’ gleaming at the first Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (23% buyer’s premium) sale of the year (ATG No 2427), Italy, China and Russia provided other highlights.

Our weekly selection from salerooms.

Rare book dealer Dr Jörn Günther of Switzerland specialises in manuscripts, miniatures, and rare early printed books from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

It is with great sadness that we report the death of dealer and valuer Paul Quastel.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including an Ernest Procter watercolour.

A c.1900 half-length oil on canvas portrait of a girl with flowers caught the eye of bidders at Lacy Scott & Knight (24% inc VAT buyer’s premium) in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

In ATG No 2427 we noted the sale at Sotheby’s on December 10, at a very much higher than expected £50,000, of a rare copy of the 1553 translation into ‘Scots English’ of Virgil’s Aeneid by Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld.

Extraordinarily high prices paid for the works of the Russian writer Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev were noted in ATG No 2425, and there were many more lots of interest in the sale held by Christie’s (25/20/13.5% buyer’s premium) in which they were offered.

Time is of the essence in the story of Speed Menefee (1879-1968), the shortest-serving city mayor in US history – and original owner of a pocket watch offered at the Chester Decorative Antiques & Art Fair.

March is when Paris turns its attention to the world of drawings and works on paper.

We regret to announce the death of auctioneer Michael Baker, who died aged 84 on October 12 last year.

Falling short of ambitious hopes but leading the day at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) first sale of 2020 was a fine English Golden Age longcase clock.