Newbury

Private British buyers dominated proceedings as the Teddy Bears of Witney went under the hammer at Special Auction Services (20% buyer’s premium) in Newbury.

Although made in Nuremberg by a firm named after a Frenchman, the cowcatcher on the front of this Gauge 1 toy locomotive gives the game away as to the intended market.

Booming regional auction house points to experience and contacts as key to source high calibre works

Four items including an Irish harp and William Morris designs boasted a family connection to the artist

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.

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”.

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.

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).

Vases tell the story of an obsession to recreate a celebrated antiquity

German artist Hans Bellmer (1902-75) explored themes of desire, sexuality and the subconscious mind through his surrealistic sculptures, drawings and photographs.

Dreweatts’ (26/25% buyer’s premium) Fine Jewellery, Silver, Watches and Objects of Vertu sale of June 18 offered only 35 lots of silver but all were good quality and many rare in form.

This rare Chelsea porcelain leaf-moulded teapot and cover came between a goat-and-bee jug and a crayfish salt.

Dreweatts’ (26/25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) single-owner dispersal of items from Bussock Wood on June 4 included significant works from the Modern British canon.

The Dreweatts (26% buyer’s premium) sale on June 18 included two Cartier brooches commissioned by Sir Stephen Courtauld to designs inspired by Eltham Palace.

Two days needed to disperse items collected over generations thanks to biscuit production success

Serpenti jewels, which followed the launch of Bulgari’s signature gold Tubogas bracelets in the late 1940s, were featured in Vogue and other fashion magazines on countless occasions in the Sixties.

Count Manfredi Della Gherardesca 's collection offers old and new mix of more than 400 varied lots