UK

A white-glove sale tells its own story about the health of a market

Before independence in 1947, the Naga hill tribes of north-east India were considered an exotic society, radically different in culture and beliefs from the better-known Hindu peoples of the plains and renowned for their fierce resistance to British rule.

The sale at Bellmans (25% buyer’s premium) in Billingshurst, West Sussex on February 17 included a small silver gilt rococo-style cream jug of a type that remains something of an enigma.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

An en bloc private sale has been arranged for a group of Fabergé object d’art formerly in the Wernher collection at Luton Hoo.

Metal-detecting finds, properly reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme and since disclaimed as Treasure, are increasing significantly the supply of pre-Georgian jewels. Some fine examples have appeared at auction of late.

A Cartier Egyptian revival jewel, previously known only from an advert that appeared in The Illustrated London News in the 1920s, sold for £55,000 at Woolley & Wallis (26% buyer’s premium).

A Cartier necklace with a rare pink diamond was offered by Tennants (22% buyer’s premium) of North Yorkshire on March 15. It sold towards top hopes at £190,000.