North-east England

As with many popular film and TV brands such as James Bond and The Avengers, manufacturers were eager to cash in on Thunderbirds with an array of merchandise.

A group of works by Robert Jobling (1841-1923), a leading figure in the artistic circles of late 19th century Tyneside, has come to Newcastle saleroom Anderson & Garland.

Manuscripts underline the overlapping lives of families in northern England and their extensive travels

A fine example of the Libertas Americana silver medal is estimated to fetch between £50,000-80,000 at Anderson & Garland’s Fine Silver and Objects of Vertu auction in Newcastle on July 22.

A rarity at a recent Woolley & Wallis (26% buyer’s premium) ceramics and glass sale was a late 18th century Wedgwood basalt intaglio seal, featuring a profile portrait of the notorious American spy Captain Nathan Hale (1755-76) beside the reversed inscription 'My Country!!!'.

From the late 18th century, Birmingham was the centre for the making of ‘toys’ – small decorative objects including boxes, nutmeg graters, buckles, caddy spoons, vinaigrettes and rattles, fashioned from silver.

Spoons are among the very few pieces of English silver surviving from the period of Wars of the Roses.

A Citroën 2CV toy car is not quite as glamorous as a Lotus Esprit, even when the full-size version helps to save James Bond in an epic chase.

Ken Besford of Durham Promotions NE, organiser of the Great North Decorative Antique Fair, is heading down the straight for the spring edition (Saturday and Sunday, April 26-27) of the triannual event he launched last year at Newcastle Racecourse.

Shelley produced the geometric Vogue and Mode shape tea and coffee wares between 1930-32 - both the designs of Eric Slater (1902-84) who had worked at the factory since the end of the First World War.

A c.1960 Barbie doll and related items by Mattel is estimated at £300-500 in the Specialist Collectable Toys Auction on April 10 at Sheffield Auction Gallery.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of a major milestone in the railway age: the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR).

The second tranche of material from a German autograph collector, the late Franz-Peter Bach, was offered by Anderson & Garland (30% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Newcastle upon Tyne on March 5.

The Disney character was one of the first examples of using merchandise for promotion and early items are sought after by collectors

This tinplate, clockwork Triang Minic post-war LMS railway van 80M hammered at 10 times the low estimate in the Vectis auction on March 4.