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Letter to Queen Elizabeth I written after Robert Dudley’s marriage lacks the earlier flirtatious tone

Derek was born on October 14, 1942, to Gladys and Harold.

The Fine Jewellery & Watches sale at Wilson55 in Nantwich on March 20 included a rare pocket watch from the 1580s.

This early 18th century portrait by Thomas Gibson (1680-1751) shows Lady Bridget Poulett (1702-73) in her prime.

The craftsman-made Yorkshire oak furniture of Robert Thompson continues to be in high demand at auction.

Leaving our staff roster at the end of last week was Antiques Trade Gazette senior production manager Justin Massie-Taylor.

Our selection of lots on offer in eight upcoming auctions

The Fine Jewellery sale at Dreweatts (26% buyer’s premium) in Newbury on March 19 included two quite different lots from the subcontinent - and both were well received.

Two very different works offered in Oxford now have new owners from Australia and continental Europe

Noke’s portrait of a humiliated child was one of the very first models from the Royal Doulton HN series

Before his death on St Helena, Napoleon Bonaparte said: “What nothing will erase, what will live forever, is my Civil Code.”

As readers may recall from previous articles on these pages, when it comes to the works of the great ornithological artist Archibald Thorburn (1860-1935) depictions of game birds tend to be the most commercial subjects.

ATG’s pick of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com, featuring both the highest prices over-estimate and the top prices paid online

Chinese chairs smaller and less formal than the ‘yoke-back’ or ‘horseshoe-back’ armchairs are referred to as rose chairs (meiguiyi) or writing chairs (wenyi).

Among the most desirable of all Scottish garden ornaments are the Garnkirk urns, a pair of neoclassical vases first made for the Great Exhibition of 1851.

A copy of what is regarded as probably the rarest edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack came up at Knights Sporting Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) on March 21-23.

A work catalogued as “an 18th-century French School portrait of a gentleman” went for Can$32,000 (£17,180) at a Montreal sale, well above its broad guide of Can$1000-2000.

The rediscovered 1911 diary of Bloomsbury artist Duncan Grant (1885-1978) drew strong interest after emerging at an auction at Gorringe’s in Lewes, East Sussex.

Far more fluent than us in the language of jewellery and stones, Georgians and the Victorians would immediately have made the link between snakes and eternal love.

Georgian giltwood mirrors were the big winners at Doyle New York’s (28% buyer’s premium) January 28 auction of British and European art and antiques.