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The earliest firebacks date from the 15th century, the early days of iron casting. These were placed against the back wall of a fireplace, an important feature when that wall was made of wattle and daub or soft stone.

Obituary by Spencer Swaffer of Spencer Swaffer Antiques, Arundel, West Sussex

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period October 12-18, 2017. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Since the Celtic Tiger’s demise a decade ago and the tailspin that ensued, the Irish art market has evolved into a more cautious and less speculative beast. The latest round of sales held towards the end of September and into October showed steady (if not spectacular) demand, especially for the big, bankable names.

Adam’s mammoth annual Country House Collections auction is designed to cater to those with spacious, preferably period, abodes.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Last month, Britain’s oldest postcard publisher, J Salmon, announced it was closing after almost 140 years of business. Blamed for its demise was the rise of selfies and social media.

Fresh views are being sought over the legal definition of ‘antique’ as police voice gun crime fears.

Dominated by two lots of Chinese porcelain, the September 28-30 sale at Hansons (17.5% buyer’s premium) also included eight Royal Worcester pieces by George Owen (1845-1917) who was inspired by the Orient to produce his trademark reticulated wares.

MADAM – Re: the proposed ban on the UK ivory trade, will mammoth ivory be exempt or have the same rules applied to it?

The question this week… should antiques centres include coffee shops?

A dozen years since the first designated Asian art sale in the UK regions, the calendar throngs with specialist events.

A copy of the 1925, Hogarth Press first of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway attracted a great deal of competition in a Cotswold Auction Company (20% buyer’s premium) sale of October 3 and finally sold at £18,000.

Sales held on consecutive days in Edinburgh and London produced two lots that ended up selling for far, far higher than expected sums.

Dealers in Mayfair, St James’s and Kensington Church Street use Asian Art in London as a chance to bring out their showstoppers in exhibitions at their home or temporary spaces. Here, ATG picks out some of those events in more detail.

Back at No 1, 60 years after driving teenagers wild and their parents to despair, Bill Haley’s Rock Around the Clock was the star of Pop and Rock Memorabilia sale at Ryedale Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium) in Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, on September 29.

The Emerald Isle was not the only place selling Irish art recently. In London on September 27, Sotheby’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) offered a collection of paintings and personal effects belonging to the family of Irish poet WB Yeats and his brother, artist Jack Butler Yeats.

The celebrated Columbus letter announcing his discovery of a New World, sold for $620,000 (£462,000), was very much the star turn at Bonhams New York (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on September 26 (see ATG No 2313).

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.