Scotland

This carved oak box (with later leather case) is believed to have been the property of the poet Robert Burns and dates from his days as an exciseman.

This hallmarked silver and ivory oval tray by Asprey of London is a highlight at McTear’s silver auction on November 27 in Glasgow.

Edinburgh-based auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull will offer a pair of Chinese filigree fans at their Asian sale on December 5.

It is doubtless the source of a little irritation, or perhaps amusement, to members of the men-only Flyfishers Club of Piccadilly that the two largest salmon ever caught with a rod and line in British waters were both landed by women.

Following the late summer sales in Edinburgh, Bonhams have announced that they are to sell the contents of Hensol, an historic Category A-listed mansion at Mossdale, Castle Douglas.

This rare Charles I spoon topped the latest sale of Scottish silver held by Edinburgh auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull, selling for £22,000.

Thomson Roddick Scottish Auctions will sell the collection of the late Andrew Elliott, a solicitor, plantsman and well-known patron of Scottish art who was involved in establishing the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh at their sale in the city on August 30.

The major Scottish sales series is already under way but Bonhams will offer their designated two-part sale later, starting on August 20 in Edinburgh.

A market-fresh private Scottish collection of works by John Maclauchlan Milne (1886-1957) has been consigned to Lindsay Burns & Company’s antiques and fine art sale on August 14.

Lyon & Turnbull are to sell the contents of the New York home of Donald and Eleanor Taffner, important collectors of works by the Glasgow School.

Glasgow auction house McTear’s have scrapped payments over the phone in a bid to tackle credit card fraud. They now use an online system, which they say customers prefer and is safer all round.

ANTIQUE and secondhand jewellery valued at £430,000 has been stolen during a break-in at an auction house in south Glasgow following what appears to have been a carefully planned and meticulously timed raid.

ONLY two Scottish 17th century lace-back spoons are recorded by the National Museum of Scotland so this example offered by Dreweatts at Donnington Priory was quite a rarity.

This previously unrecorded and beautifully painted dish, dated 1537, by the maiolica artist Francesco Xanto Avelli (c.1486-1542) sold for £325,000 at Lyon & Turnbull's latest in Edinburgh.

WHILE most reports in the media focused on the record price paid for a pair of Queen Victoria's undergarments, Lyon & Turnbull's sale of works from the Forbes Collection raised the more serious question of the current state of the Victorian art market.

IN what promises to be the biggest test of the overall health of the Victorian picture market for some years, Lyon & Turnbull will sell the entire contents of Old Battersea House, the London home of the Forbes family, in Edinburgh on November 1.

BONHAMS Scotland is to establish two new departments at its Edinburgh headquarters in Queen Street.

THE Edinburgh sales at Bonhams and Lyon & Turnbull in August both featured Wemyss wares, offering an opportunity to assess the current market.

The latest sale of Scottish silver at Lyon & Turnbull included a number of early Edinburgh hollowares, including this pair of James VI (I of England) communion cups.

ANOTHER major price for L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) came courtesy of Lyon & Turnbull's latest evening sale in Edinburgh, as The Hawker's Cart sold at £550,000 to a private buyer south of the border.