South-east England

“Extremely scarce” was the description of a Scalextric C70 Type 59 Bugatti offered at auction in Lewes and it certainly lived up to that billing.

Dealer and BBC Antiques Roadshow expert Mark Hill has set up an auction house holding sales in Royal Tunbridge Wells.

The Irish peer, statesman and soldier James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde (1665-1745), first rose to prominence after helping put down the Monmouth Rebellion.

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.