Auction Reports

An intriguing Jacobite relic was sold at a recent Mellors & Kirk (24% buyer’s premium) auction in Nottingham.

Perth saleroom Lindsay Burns (22% buyer’s premium) posted a new house record with an exceptional piece of period jewellery at its latest three-day sale.

Prices for Hornby 0 Gauge clockwork railway toys have been rather flat for quite a few years now.

From an elephant gun team to a double-decker and general on a hobby horse, good prices are still paid for collectable toys.

Kosuge (Kosuge Toy Industrial Co Ltd), with the trademark KSG in a diamond, was Matsuzo Kosuge.

Gustave Vichy was born in 1839 to a Parisian watch and clock maker Antoine Michel who, along with his wife, set up the Vichy company in 1862 with the aim of building and selling clocks, mechanical objects and toys.

The association of native American and Scottish Highlander advertising figures with tobacconists began in England and Holland in the 17th century and later spread to America.

An early 19th century wooden peg doll featuring the original costume of a straw bonnet and cream silk dress with a mother of pearl belt, and red leather shoes, has sold for £3000 to a UK collector.

Back in October 2024 Lewes saleroom Wallis & Wallis made what was thought to be a record price for Scalextric, taking £7750 for a C70 Type 59 Bugatti.

Cathedrals, palaces and abbeys were also among the sights featured as British tourism developed

The group of Chinese ‘export’ silver offered by Gorringe’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Lewes on April 21 came by descent from Reginald Follett Codrington Hedgeland (1874-1967), an Oxford graduate from Exeter who joined the Chinese Maritime Customs Service in 1898.

Flightless bird walks away with a new owner as silver novelty rarities catch the eye at Kinghams

Though sourced separately, the two best-selling furniture lots at Gorringe’s (25% buyer’s premium) latest Fine Art & Interiors sale in Lewes were both products of colonial India.

An auction titled China 500 Years held by Mayfair orientalist firm Plakas (29% buyer’s premium) on March 19 included elements of two rare Kangxi (1662-1722) blue and white porcelain wall sconces. They were estimated at £2000-3000 but contested to £17,000.

Kali shaped from local hardwoods, typically ironwood, were traditionally made by canoe-builders in the South Sea islands.

Two of London’s salerooms sold Georgian pocket globes on March 12. Both hammered well above what proved modest estimates.

Lake District cabinetmaker and woodcarver Ernest John Oldcorn trained at Gillows of Lancaster but he found his niche after joining the Arthur W Simpson workshop.

The March 3-4 sale at Chorley’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Prinknash Abbey, Gloucestershire, was topped by a good example of Qing imperial needlework: a yellow ground silk and metal thread cushion cover.

Norwegian kjenge or kasa have been used for drinking ale at special occasions since the medieval period.

Despite the strict antique ivory rules, Japanese art can still take big sums - as a Norfolk sale demonstrates