Pick of the Week

American comic fans may have seen Superman’s debut in print but the superhero’s first flight came up in a British publication.

The Autumn Fine Interiors auction at Hutchinson Scott in Skipton, North Yorkshire featured a Lancashire collection of Royal Worcester porcelain.

A Märklin tinplate ocean liner toy ship from c.1905-12 estimated at £250-300 steamed away on sale day in Nottingham at a hammer price of £24,000.

Towards the end of his reign, Henry VIII, the devout Catholic who had created the Church of England, was attempting to put the Protestantism he had unleashed back in its box.

Metal detecting finds, and the success of the 1996 Treasure Act that allows finders a share in the market value of ‘treasure’, have become the market’s key source of medieval jewellery. And for Andrew Riley, a semi-retired architect from North Yorkshire, the hobby has been a particular boon.

The top lot in Stair’s (31% buyer’s premium) Americana sale had a distinctly British profile.

Elektro was built in 1937 by industrial giant Westinghouse in Mansfield, Ohio, for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York: the first robot in the world that could walk, talk and even count on his fingers.

Remarkably, given Chelsea FC’s modern-day huge spending and multi-year lucrative contracts, two of the squad who helped to win their first-ever league title in 1954-55 were amateurs.

A sale of items from the holdings of a pioneer ‘craft’ collector at Rago-Wright in Lambertville, New Jersey, was topped by a Cycladic arrow form by Hans Coper (1920-81).

A Gorham Martelé silver punch bowl made for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St Louis sold for $120,000 (£89,700) at Freeman’s in Chicago.

Bonhams offered the Contents of Monreith House: A Historical Seat of Clan Maxwell in two July sales from its Edinburgh saleroom.

A “seminal document of Parliamentary history” has been purchased at auction by dealership Philip Mould & Company for a hammer price of £62,000.

The so-called Biscuit Tin Episode in the life of author Charles Dodgson left behind a great collectable: the W&R Jacob & Co lithographed tin, one of which was offered by Hartley’s on June 17.

The two opening lots of Chorley’s Modern Art & Design sale on June 2 were a walnut and ebony secretaire cabinet and a dresser designed and made by Arts & Crafts titan Sidney Barnsley (1865-1926).

The cuerda seca (dry cord or kashi) technique of decorating tiles was developed in Central Asia during the latter part of the 14th century.