Auction Reports

A composite German full armour, c.1500-10, from a European Collection was one of the highlights of Thomas Del Mar’s (25% buyer’s premium) sale of Fine Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria held at Olympia Auctions on June 29.

Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Kelly (1871-1936) had a decent wartime career in the Royal Navy but it was a peacetime crisis that also showed his skills: the Invergordon Mutiny.

The autobiography title Rake’s Progress: The Gay and Dramatic – Adventures of Major Denis Rake MC, the Reluctant British War-Time Agent perfectly sums up the story behind a group of medals on offer in East Sussex.

Although the wearer of a First World War tunic sold by Kent auction house C&T (22% buyer’s premium) on July 26-28 was not listed, it gave plenty of clues to his service.

To get an idea of the healthy nature of the medals market at the moment, consider the Victoria Cross sold at Spink (20% buyer’s premium) this summer.

Unique medal combinations will always catch a collector’s eye, particularly when accompanied by a highly emotive backstory.

This cased pair of English flintlock duelling pistols by Joseph Gulley, London, c.1810-15, sold for £8600 at Halls (20/12% buyer’s premium) in a timed online sale that ended on August 2.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the French military could feel pretty proud of itself. The dashing style and spirit of their forces in the 19th century often inspired other nations to create copycat units.

According to family history, an Art Deco four-piece suite offered by Mander (20% buyer’s premium) in Sudbury on July 9 has an ocean-going history.

Items collected and meticulously recorded from the 1970s onwards by a trade couple had the attractions of ‘dealer’s choice’ provenances when offered at Hanson Holloway’s Ross (25% buyer’s premium).

Overseas interest in tribal art and Doulton Lambeth wares fuelled the higher prices at Cuttlestones’ (20% buyer’s premium) Penkridge sale but it was a new outbreak of cardomania which raised temperatures of collectors across England.

As Sand, an Elizabethan house in east Devon which has been in the Huyshe family since 1560, is being sold for the first time in over 460 years, Chilcotts (21% buyer’s premium) dispersed much of the contents on July 16.

This unusual Grand Tour paperweight shown here is made from fragments of Roman mosaic, millefiori, spiral twist and reticelli glass.

Sale tells a tale of the English and Scottish makers who headed out to India for work

Mainland Chinese buyers bidding on jade, porcelain, wooden and textile offerings dominated the leader board at an Asian & Islamic sale at Cheltenham.

Three lots at Tennants’ (22% buyer’s premium) traced the history of Stan Dodds (1928-2012) – the first and foremost of the Critters.

The reassuring news from the East began with the first lot offered at Cheffins’ (24.5% buyer’s premium) Fine Sale when 10 China-based bidders competed for a Republican-era porcelain Putai.

The artists’ enclave of Newlyn in Cornwall was not exclusively a colony of painters.

With 207 pieces of silver from the Levant and all points East to China on offer at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium), the stand-out pieces were the work of Iranian smiths.

Sailor’s sweethearts or valentines were once thought to have been made by sailors as love tokens during their long trips away from home.