Canterbury

Try original advertising artwork if you want to capture the atmosphere of an era.

This 1930s pencil and gouache for the Lawn Tennis Championship Meetings was a poster design for London Underground.

An example of the work of northern artist Norman Cornish (1919-2014) appeared down south at Canterbury Auction Galleries (22.5% buyer’s premium).

Qing period embroidered satin throne-back cushion covers can be seen still in situ in a number of the buildings in the Forbidden City including the Hall of Supreme Principle and the Palace of Eternal Spring. Others are held by institutions and collectors throughout the world.

With the unusual provenance of having been dug out of a London sewer during excavations in 1930, the 15th or early 16th century copper alloy candlestick shown here underlined the truth of the maxim that where there’s muck there’s brass.

The mouthwatering kitchenalia collection of Annie Marchant (1951-2020) certainly served up a treat when it came to auction on April 12-13.

Collection offered in Canterbury recalls the bizarre family life of Stanley Spencer

Estimated at £200-300 in a Kent sale, a military commission that bears the signature of King George III and is additionally signed and endorsed by William Pitt the Elder, Britain’s prime minister at the time of the Seven Years War, sold online instead for £7500.

A painting of apple blossom by the Austrian Impressionist Olga Wisinger-Florian (1844-1926) drew a five-way online bidding battle at Canterbury Auction Galleries (24% buyer’s premium inc VAT) on August 1.

This 12in (39cm) Portobello pottery plaque piece, c.1820, is a rare piece but one known in a number of different colour variations.

In 1765 the engineer and entrepreneur Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) visited Paris, where he observed first-hand the workshops of bronziers and the wares that were proving hugely popular with Georgian Britain’s elite.

With Storm Ciara getting under way (in pre-coronavirus days…) it was not, perhaps, the ideal time to launch the new weekend sales at Canterbury Auction Galleries (20% buyer’s premium).

The near dominance of Scandinavians among mid-20th century designers of wood furniture and artefacts was underlined at two sales at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in February.

An atypical visitor to a recent sale at Canterbury Auction Galleries (24% buyer’s premium) was a Norwegian silver gilt brudekrone dating from the late 18th or early 19th century.

Paintings by Leeds-born artist Louis H Grimshaw (1870-1943) are often overshadowed by his better-known father, John Atkinson Grimshaw (1863-93).

While individuals and pairs from the suite of five bronze cricketers by Joseph Durham (1814-77) are occasionally seen on the rostrum, it is rare to find all five appearing together.

American naval expertise and gallantry came as a big shock to the British, who had become used to the Royal Navy ruling the waves.

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.

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.

When auctioneer Tony Pratt spotted a mysterious shape in the undergrowth of a back garden in Hythe he wasn’t expecting to uncover a very large pottery bear.