South-east England

David Bowie is the star of a retrospective selling show of 1970s photography which will run at the Design Gallery in the Pantiles Arcade, Tunbridge Wells, from November 13 to December 31.

An “extremely rare” gold Thrymsa, or shilling, dating from 640-660 and minted in Northumbria or York, was the highlight of a pensioner’s collection of Anglo-Saxon coins sold at Canterbury Auction Galleries (27% buyer’s premium inc VAT) on October 3.

As an inventor and an entrepreneur, Dr John C Taylor feels a special affinity with the pioneering clockmakers of the English Golden Age. And it is this connection that has guided his collecting across several decades.

A group of early 19th century microscope slides mounted with specimens of fossilised wood sold for £11,500 (estimate £1000-1500) to a Canadian private collector at Special Auction Services (25% buyer’s premium) in Newbury.

Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) designed two electroplated claret or water jugs for Elkington & Co of Birmingham in 1885 – both of them daring designs inspired by vessels from antiquity.

Given that most antique furniture at auction tends to be good value only for the buyer these days, one can perhaps understand why it occasionally does not always receive the attention it once merited from auctioneers and valuers. As a result, occasionally a special item slips through.

Underground or overground, London travel memorabilia amounted to a £95,000 hammer total at Catherine Southon (24% buyer’s premium).

The original ‘Poohsticks’ bridge from AA Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh books is to return to the ‘Hundred Acre Wood’ after it was bought by Buckhurst Park estate owner Lord De La Warr.

Small bronzes form part of a group of sculptures underlining the market demand at regional salerooms.

This pair of small qingbai foliate dishes from the Northern Song (960-1127) period comes with a receipt showing they were purchased by the Oxfordshire vendor for HK$16,000 from KY Fine Art in Hong Kong on June 7, 2003.

Joy O’Meara of Jay Fairs has announced that the antiques and collectors’ fair scheduled for Sunday, November 21, at the parish hall in the Oxfordshire village of Benson has been cancelled.

This unusual Meiji period Satsuma vase decorated in overglaze enamels and gilding, with a cockatoo perched on the branch of a flowering magnolia tree, has a gilt seal to the base for the Yabu Meizan workshop.

It is certainly not unheard of for a studio sale to transform the market for a Modern British artist.

Oddly titled by its creator as such, an extraordinary watercolour featured on August 10 at John Nicholson’s (25% buyer’s premium) of Fernhurst.

Another studio sale bringing attention to an artist whose work rarely appears was held at Dreweatts (25% buyer’s premium) via a timed online auction of pictures by Bruce Tippett (1933-2017) that closed on September 16.

Dawsons of Maidenhead holds an Asian sale on November 4 where this damaged 18in (46cm) famille verte yen-yen vase is guided at £200-300.

Back in the saddle in Brighton is Donny Mann of Love Fairs, returning with his well supported antiques and vintage fair after a 19-month absence.

This 3ft 5in (1.03m) buff sandstone figure of a male chauri (fan) bearer from 9th-11th century central India, possibly Rajasthan, forms part of Dreweatts’ Asian Art Part 2 sale in Donnington Priory on November 11.

At many garden centres the array of what’s for sale other than plants and pots includes furniture, firepits, and fleeces – and in an imaginative retail move, some offer antiques and antique fairs.