West Sussex

The sale at Bellmans (25% buyer’s premium) in Billingshurst, West Sussex on February 17 included a small silver gilt rococo-style cream jug of a type that remains something of an enigma.

The Universal Genève Tri-Compax (Ref 222973) is one of the classic post-war chronographs.

An early 16th century carved oak panel that may depict Catherine of Aragon and her daughter Mary (later Mary I) has sold for £13,000 at auction in 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.