South-west England


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Mug up on coronation dates

17 April 2026

The unknown maker of this commemorative creamware mug produced for the coronation of King George IV seems to have been in a rush.

‘Broadhembury’ ring

Tudor metal-detecting discovery to head to Devon museum with help of London dealer

14 April 2026

A Devon museum is in discussion with a jewellery dealer for the loan of a Tudor ring discovered by a metal-detectorist.

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‘Second Lady’ in style of Lely takes first place in price terms

10 April 2026

Top-seller when a collection of antiques from the estate of a descendant of one of Britain’s longest-serving chancellors of the exchequer went to auction in the Cotswolds was an oil painting “in the manner of 17th century royal portraitist Peter Lely”.

Pocket watch

Second watch said to have been found on body of Titanic victim John Jacob Astor emerges at auction

10 April 2026

Two years after a Wiltshire auction house set a record for Titanic memorabilia with “the watch recovered from the body of John Jacob Astor”, another timekeeper making precisely the same claim is coming to market.

Alice Liddell's bed

Alice in slumberland: bed once belonging to Alice Liddell comes to auction

10 April 2026

Alice Liddell was just a 10-year-old living in Oxford in the 1860s when Charles Dodgson – better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll – spun a fantastical tale to her and her two sisters Edith and Lorina on a summer afternoon by the Thames.

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Chinese cushion cover came from British military source

10 April 2026

The March 3-4 sale at Chorley’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Prinknash Abbey, Gloucestershire, was topped by a good example of Qing imperial needlework: a yellow ground silk and metal thread cushion cover.

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Battle of the bookcase Old Master

10 April 2026

Bidding competition breaks out in south London for Mannerist work discovered in a west London house

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Skol! A Scandinavian bowl for supping ale

02 April 2026

Norwegian kjenge or kasa have been used for drinking ale at special occasions since the medieval period.

Antiques dealer Natalia Rawley

‘Do I need 30 patchwork quilts?’

02 April 2026

Natalia Rawley is a passionate antiques-hunter-gatherer and shares her loved possessions at home in Wiltshire with her four sons.

Mary Anning letter

Dorset museum’s fundraising secures letter from pioneering fossil hunter Mary Anning at Bonhams auction

27 March 2026

The Lyme Regis Philpot Museum’s fundraising campaign raised enough to buy a letter fragment from Mary Anning (1799-1847) offered at a Bonhams auction.

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Focus on art from unusual angles

27 March 2026

Works in demand at auction do not always reflect the subjects and themes that artists are best known for

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Be a BAFTA winner without even having to put in a performance

27 March 2026

Would you rather a blue or a bronze BAFTA? Even if you haven’t made a stand-out screen performance this year – and even if you didn’t know a blue BAFTA was an option – they could still be yours.

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The collection of dealer Paul Fitzsimmons: a life in oak told across 700 lots in a Salisbury saleroom

27 March 2026

Specialist dealer sells items from his collection in two-day auction as he heads towards semi-retirement

Bacino di San Marco painting

Venice provides allure as Cotswolds estate yields series of pictures to Kinghams

26 March 2026

A group of Venetian scenes were among the lots bringing interest at the latest Fine, Decorative Arts & Design sale at Gloucestershire saleroom Kinghams (26% buyer’s premium).

Cornish Fisherfolk by Walter Langley

Major Walter Langley painting bought by Penlee House after fundraising appeal

24 March 2026

Penlee House Gallery & Museum in Cornwall has purchased an important painting by Walter Langley (1852-1922) after successfully raising the £65,000 needed to acquire it from a local authority in Surrey.

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First Period lantern clock and George Graham longcase emerge in regional sales

20 March 2026

Discovered as a ‘box of bits’ in the late 1960s when clearing the attic of a London residence, a ‘First Period’ lantern clock was placed in storage until being put back together in the 1980s.

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Pieces emerge from famous Sèvres service make 20 times estimate

20 March 2026

Elements of a well-documented Empire period Sèvres dinner and dessert service surfaced at Kinghams (26% buyer’s premium) in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, on March 4.

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Bidders see the point of needlework

20 March 2026

A diminutive but rare mid-17th century needlework picture sold for £11,000 in Tennants’ (24% buyer’s premium) latest Fashion, Costume and Textiles Sale.

11 Mar Ring On Model (1)

Record prices for diamond jewels at UK auctions

19 March 2026

Two items of diamond jewellery achieved record sums for UK salerooms Duke’s and Elmwoods this week.

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Elizabethan Golden Age table shines at auction

13 March 2026

This “incredibly rare elaborate, fantastical and exquisitely carved” oak draw-leaf table, dating from the Golden Age of the English Renaissance, stood out at the Paul Fitzsimmons – A Life in Oak sale.

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