West Sussex

A stand-out lot of Bellmans’ (25% buyer’s premium) biannual Fine Clocks auction on December 5 was a chronometer made for the 1874 British expedition to observe the transit of Venus.

First edition of Defoe’s final novel fought over by online bidders up to a hammer price of £16,000

Pictures by the Dutch artist Henriette Ronner-Knip (1821- 1909) are pretty abundant on the market but the considerable popularity of her characterful feline studies means they are invariably a valuable proposition.

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

The latest sale of Objects of Vertu at Toovey’s (24.5% buyer’s premium) in West Sussex included two impressive examples of mid-20th century Australian goldsmithing.

A rare James II and Queen Mary of Modena silver medal commemorating a Spanish shipwreck recovered in 1687 sold for four times the top estimate.

A rare Royal Doulton prototype model of a ‘Boy on a Tortoise’ found in a modest house in Rickmansworth has sold for an impressive £18,000.

Ralph ‘Randolphus’ Ayres is recorded as being head cook at New College, Oxford at various times in the 18th century.

Roman Cieślewicz (1930-96) and Jan Lenica (1928-2001) were both founders of the Polish School of Posters, the influential and creative artistic movement that sprang up under strict Soviet rule.

A collection of close to 100 Arts & Crafts belt buckles formed just part of the remarkable Anthony Gardner collection sold by Bellmans (25% buyer’s premium) in Wisborough Green, West Sussex, on April 16.

Buyers were out in force early at the 'Petworth Park Antiques and Fine Art Fair', with sales taking place in the first few minutes.

Owen Simmons was a bit of a bread fan, it is fair to say. A lecturer at the National Bakery School in London, he produced the lavish book shown here.