Features

This Victorian 18ct gold, enamel and gemset collar tells a fascinating story of a well-known aristocratic family.

Here is a heart-warming story for all admirers of retro canine-themed jewels. Yes. The lost puppy has been found.

For many years signet rings served a very practical as well as a decorative and symbolic function.

This 7½in (19cm) high carriage clock in a fanciful gothic revival taste is stamped to the base AF, probably for the renowned Parisian jeweller and goldsmith Alexis Falize (1811-98).

Myanmar (Burmese) sapphires, renowned for a deep blue colour, are highly prized for reasons of scarcity, quality and history

A once neglected aspect of the silver market received a showpiece sale in February. ATG reports on the Stewart collection of Anglo-Indian silver from the Raj period.

The quasi-medieval silver and glass ‘claret bottle’ designed by Charles Robert Ashbee for the Guild of Handicraft is one of the great pieces of the Arts & Crafts movement. Ashbee mentions it in his 1909 book Modern English Silver, saying: “The shape is taken from an Elizabethan sack-bottle found when digging the foundations of [my home] the Magpie and Stump in Chelsea.”

Military history and regimental glamour combine in a Victorian silver cigar case offered at Ripon auction house Elstob & Elstob (25% buyer’s premium).

Cheffins’ sale of Jewellery, Silver & Watches on April 6 includes, as part of a 100-piece single-owner collection, this 145oz George III silver gilt presentation two-handled cup and cover.

Dr Christopher Dresser’s conical sugar bowl with three angled leg-like supports is one of the great ‘eureka’ moments in Victorian design.

A private collection of naval and military vinaigrettes was among the highlights of a recent Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’ premium) Silver & Objects of Vertu auction. It included examples of both familiar and less-familiar models.

Cups with coconut bowls mounted in silver or silver-gilt were fashionable rarities in western Europe throughout the 16th and early 17th century. At the time the coconut was, like other ‘exotics’ such as nautilus shells or imported pottery and porcelain, held in high esteem.

The Assay Office in Norwich closed in 1702, so secular objects in particular that bear the city’s mark are rare. Rarer still are pieces bearing the mark of the only female silversmith registered in Norwich towards the end of that period.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” comments Fellows’ watch specialist Kes Crockett. “Jaeger LeCoultre is the best watchmaker in the world. Rolex is without question the most well-known manufacturer and Patek Philippe has produced some of the most collectable watches on the market. However, JLC arguably has a richer and more important horological history than both.”

Over the years, the Navitimer has undergone a variety of cosmetic and mechanical changes. Pictured here are three iterations of the watch as it evolved across two decades.

The Fifty Fathoms watch was born in the 1950s from the encounter between the Swiss firm Blancpain (by then using the legal trading name Rayville) and two French naval officers, Capt Robert Maloubier and Lt Claude Riffaud.

The firm established in Switzerland nearly 140 years ago achieved many ‘firsts’ in chronograph production. ATG considers the market for some of the most famous references from the Navitimer to the ‘Thunderball’ Top Time

A substantial Victorian monocular microscope auctioned by Flints (25% buyer’s premium) dated 1858 and 1863 on the objectives was not only a good bit of kit with lots of accessories included but came signed with the owner’s name in several places.

Jason Clarke Antiques has for sale at £8500 this unusually large 9in diameter, c.1770, universal equinoctial ring dial by Dollond of London

The famous firm of Negretti & Zambra was formed in London in 1850 by the Italian-born Henry Negretti and Joseph Warren Zambra