South-east England

A medieval gaming piece found in a sock drawer sold for £50,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Gorringe’s in Lewes – smashing its estimate of £10,000-15,000.

It may be a “small” collection according to Daniel Agnew, but the array of teddy bears coming up at Special Auction Services on December 3 is also “perfectly curated” and “by far the finest and most exciting collection of teddy bears ever to come to auction”.

Views of Exmoor form a notable niche in the market for works by Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959).

An early clockwork model wheeled into a Buckinghamshire saleroom to get bidders into gear for an estimate-busting result

The French artist Alexandre-François Desportes (1661-1743) spent much of his early career as a portraitist, including a notable spell working at the court of King Jan Sobieski of Poland.

A recent sale at Claydon Auctioneers (21.5% buyer’s premium) in Buckinghamshire included a suite of aluminium bedroom furniture by the HG Hawker Engineering Company.

Pulling out a suitcase from under a bed during a probate valuation, Dawsons’ valuer could scarcely have guessed what they would find hidden inside.

Large urban landscapes, lorry parks, shantytowns and thronging markets feature heavily in the work of Ghanian painter Ablade Glover (b.1934).

Aboriginal painter Namatjira’s evocative Australian work makes rare appearance in a British saleroom

A medieval walrus ivory gaming piece, recently found by a Gorringe’s valuer in a sock drawer, comes for sale in Lewes on October 8. As part of the Interiors & Decorative Arts Sale it has an estimate of £10,000-15,000

Much of the market for ‘country house’ antiques is now in the hands of UK’s regional auctioneers. Here we review two recent bellwether sales.

Chairs and sofas by Howard & Sons are a pricey niche market these days, largely immune to the varying fortunes of the wider market for Victorian and Edwardian furniture.

A popular two-day biannual antiques and vintage fair run since 2017 in a large glasshouse at Coolings Garden Centre at Knockholt in Kent is growing in exhibitor numbers.

The highlight of the sale of Fine Clocks, Barometers and Scientific Instruments at Dreweatts was this French mantel clock with orrery c.1810. Although unsigned, it is thought to be by the talented Paris clockmaker Antide Janvier (1751-1835).

One of the most popular fairs in the Grandma’s Attic seven-venue portfolio across southern England is in Woking.

Aubreys, the recently launched auction house holding sales at Loseley Park, Guildford, is offering a single-owner collection of Qianlong period painted enamels on September 26.

Myrtle’s Courtyard on the 2000-acre Hampton Estate, near Farnham in Surrey, is a cluster of Victorian buildings, originally the Hampton dairy farm and milking parlour, which is now used for events.