UK

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the football league in Scotland has not always been dominated by Celtic and Rangers. The last time a team outside the Old Firm won the title was Aberdeen in 1985.

While typically it is the very earliest pieces of Worcester porcelain from the 1750s that excite the market, there is always great interest in documentary pieces.

Amassed by one of the longest-serving members of the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club), a group of cricketing lots notched up a number of auction highlights last month.

The John Goodwin (15% buyer’s premium) saleroom in Malvern offered what it dubbed “probably the most notorious bat in cricket history” in its June 20 auction: the infamous aluminium bat used by Dennis Lillee in the 1979-80 Ashes.

This late 9ct gold Football League medal was awarded to Billy Bassett (1869-1937), one of the best-known footballers of the late Victorian era.

American Lance Wyman (b.1937) is regarded by many as one of the greatest graphic designers of the modern era and the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico – the first to be held in Latin America – gave him the ideal canvas to showcase his considerable talents.

Peter Dingley (1923-2018), who died last year aged 95, is a name synonymous with the best of modern British craft. David Whiting, author of 'Modern British Potters & Their Studios' (2009), described him as “a remarkable member of the small band of post-war pioneering gallerists who supported British ceramics”.

The London firm founded by Frederick Henry Ayres in the mid 19th century is best known for its for high-quality rocking horses but Ayres also produced a wide range of equipment for indoor and outdoor games and sport.

A yellow Tour de France jersey once worn in the gruelling race by the legendary Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx (b.1945) sold for a mid-estimate hammer price of £7000 at Rogers Jones (18% buyer’s premium inc VAT) on June 14.

Emmerdale actor’s love of Ayrton and circle seen at Tetsworth estate sale

A group of five rare bronzes by Joseph Durham (1814- 77) from the Gould collection will be offered at The Canterbury Auction Galleries on November 26-27.

The Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society hosts its annual antique and collectable tile fair on Saturday October 5 at St Jude’s Hall, Mapperley, Nottingham.

A selection of Victorian cricket scenes (one shown below) by Lucien Davis (1860-1941) was offered at Roseberys London (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).

Celtic legend Tommy Gemmell’s boots from the 1967 European Cup final went under the hammer at Glasgow auction house McTear’s (24% buyer’s premium) on July 19. They doubled the lower estimate, selling at £14,000.

Bellmans in Wisborough Green, West Sussex is to offer two watercolours by Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) as part of a Fine Paintings sale on October 15. Both come from a local private collection.

The biggest literary impression in a recent Shrewsbury sale that combined medals and militaria with well over 200 lots of books and ephemera was made by poets – famous and otherwise.

The Northern Antiques Fair, run in association with the British Antiques Dealers’ Association (BADA), takes place during Frieze Week, meaning buyers can snap up top objects in North Yorkshire as well as London in early autumn.

BADA sent ATG this statement last week providing further details on the sale of a majority stake in its fair

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.

MADAM – Amid the BADA voices calling for an EGM (ATG No 2409), let me add that one thing is certain: the days of traditional art and antiques fairs are numbered, thanks to changing tastes and an ageing buyer audience.