UK

A hardstone inlaid scent bottle, c.1905, by Joseph Cook & Son of Birmingham, is among the wide selection of silver available at the next Marlborough College Antiques & Fine Art Fair.

Under the Discover Vintage banner, Keeley Rosendale’s vintage home shows in Manchester and the Midlands continue to demonstrate the popularity of well-priced Mid-century furniture.

A collection of 18th and 19th century mementoes of love and death – “the likes of which we are unlikely to ever see again” according to specialist Eric Knowles – brought a white-glove success at Hansons (20% buyer’s premium).

Sold alongside a pile of Victorian green-glazed leaf plates and dishes, the primary appeal of this lot offered in a weekly sale at Gorringe’s (21% buyer’s premium) of Lewes was the whimsical majolica cheese dish.

One exceptional and very successful lot in a recent Yorkshire sale focused on penal reforms on the far side of the world.

Market freshness, provenance and attractive estimates were the features that held sway to ensure a high selling rate for a single-owner collection of British delftwares offered at Woolley & Wallis (25/12% buyer’s premium).

Account of a double killing in 19th century Norwich heads a look at two-day auction.

Among a series of strong art sales reported from the recent LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair was an 18th century portrait of a lady offered by Jeremy Astfalck of The Old Corkscrew.

Banksy’s derisive portrayal of The House of Commons reduced to an assembly of primates achieved a record £8.5m (plus premium) in Sotheby’s Contemporary Art auction on October 3.

A missing Pugin parliamentary letter box has been returned to the Palace of Westminster more than 100 years after it disappeared.

A generation ago pieces such as this splendid 20in (50cm) famille rose ‘dragon’ charger from the Guangxu period (1874-1908) were valued chiefly as decorative objects. However, appreciation of the best quality porcelain produced in the last years of the Qing continues to grow.

For a number of years, the Colchester-born artist Harry Becker (1865-1928) followed the conventional path of a professional artist, achieving significant success and exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy. But a growing disenchantment with London led to his ultimate departure in 1913 to Suffolk.

For the first Peterborough Festival of Antiques under IACF ownership, continuity was the order of the day. In future, however, the fair organiser will look to extend the appeal of this public-oriented event.

An oil on panel of The Tower of Babel, 1604, by Abel Grimmer (1570-1618/19), offered at £1.35m by Johnny Van Haeften was one of the stand-out sales during last week’s host of London art and antique trade events.

Original paintings by Abstract artist Nicolas de Stael (1914-55) rarely appear at auction outside the main salerooms in London, Paris and New York.