UK

Bid to a record £20,000 at a Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on September 26 was a beautifully bound example of Piranesi’s Campus Martius Antiquae Urbis.

This early-Victorian bracelet comprising eight portrait miniatures and four unusual eye miniatures set in gold is inscribed on the back with a series of identifying names, including that of Josias Nottidge, the children’s father, and his wife Emily. It tells the story of a Victorian scandal.

The impact of institutions on the collector-dominated market in fans was witnessed when the best-seller at a dedicated Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) auction went to a museum.

Well placed in Tyne & Wear to receive a number of miners’ safety lamps from the old Durham and Northumberland coalfields, Boldon Auction Galleries (17.5% buyer’s premium) was presented with something of a mystery in the form of the lamp pictured here.

Focus on one of only two notable women painters to be associated with the Norwich School.

A crayon portrait by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82) surfaced at Oxford saleroom Mallams (22.5% buyer’s premium) together with another of the sitter’s father.

Sold for a record $2750 (£2220) at PBA Galleries (20/15% buyer’s premium) in California on October 10 was an inscribed copy of The World Set Free, a prophetic novel by HG Wells.

This unassuming Grana military issue c.1945 shown below forms part of the so-called Dirty Dozen wristwatches made by 12 Swiss manufacturers for the British army.

Less familiar than some of the busts and maquettes of Winston Churchill by Oscar Nemon (1906-85) was this bronze resin maquette, below, offered at Catherine Southon’s (18% buyer’s premium) sale in Selsdon, Surrey.

Like John Constable before him, the 19th century painter John Arnesby Brown (1866-1955) found endless inspiration in the low horizons and expansive skies of East Anglia. He was also interested in light and atmosphere and the effect of sunshine and shadow on the landscape.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

As Belfast capitalises on its Titanic history and the TV series Game of Thrones attracting visitors, two enterprising local antiques dealers are seizing the moment to start a new fair in the city.

Some of the most striking 19th-20th century jewellery can often be found in design sales.