Auction Reports

Carved from the heart of the toa or ironwood tree, long pole clubs with scalloped blades (akatara) are associated with Rarotonga and Atiu on the Cook Islands.

Estimated at £25,000-40,000, this 15th century Istrian marble wellhead in the late Gothic style sold for £110,000 at Summers Place Auctions (25/20% buyer’s premium) in West Sussex on March 29.

On April 9, Chilcotts (21% buyer’s premium) in Honiton, Devon, offered 25 lots of Heal’s limed oak furniture from a single property.

Toadstones are understood to be the button-like palatal teeth of lepidotes, an extinct genus of ray finned fish from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

China trade wares attract significant bidding at Dreweatts

Knowledgeable bidders spot a design by Owen Jones on offer in North Yorkshire

The Blickensderfer Typewriter Co of Stanford, Connecticut, introduced the Niagara ‘index’ typewriter in 1902.

While the market for post-war wares by Thompson’s of Kilburn – particularly the animal and figure carvings – has grown substantially in recent years, the ‘prime period’ for Mouseman collecting remains the 1920s-30s.

Cats were represented in the social and religious practices of ancient Egypt for several millennia.

This rare creamware cylindrical tankard is printed with a copy of A Cudgelling Match between English and French Negros in the Island of Dominica by Agostino Brunias (1730-96).

During the Meiji period, the Kyoto artist and entrepreneur Nishimura Sozaemon (1855-1935) used Western mechanised weaving techniques to develop new styles of Japanese decorative textiles.

Teapots made in delftware were never particularly functional nor popular in either England or the Netherlands.

Eight different colourways of the classic Whitefriars Banjo vase were offered in a single-owner private collection at Tennants (22% buyer’s premium).

This Victorian tailor-made military uniform by A Succaram Tookaram & Sons, Tailors, 273 Main Street, Poona was estimated at £150-200 at Lockdales (18% buyer’s premium) in Ipswich.

Estimated at £100-150, a group of six items of Second World War army kit ended up selling for £4000 at Tennants (22% buyer’s premium).

The Five Centuries sale at Lyon & Turnbull (25% buyer’s premium) featured items from Borders property Kimmerghame, Duns, home of the Swinton family.

Provenance adds cachet to a varied selection offered in regional sale after London first dibs

A large collection of Victorian oil lamps was sold by Fellows (23% buyer’s premium) as part of a timed online auction ending on March 15.

The original artwork for Queen’s A Day at the Races sold for £21,000 (estimate £5000-10,000) at Gardiner Houlgate (22% buyer’s premium).

The latest Photographica sale at Chiswick Auctions (25/12% buyer’s premium) included this rare set of 'China Through the Stereoscope'.