South-west England

In June 2008, Canterbury Auction Galleries claimed a record price for a Louis Wain ceramic when a version of the 11in (28cm) Futurist Cat in blue with Amphora factory marks sold at £8200.

Strong prices do not always have to be seven, six or even five figure sums.

A selection of Second World War ephemera with a distinctly Polish flavour estimated at £60-100 sold instead for £7600 at a Devon auction.

Three albums containing in all some 410 wood engravings by Gwen Raverat (1885-1957), compiled by the artist as a personal record of her work and sold by a descendant, made a total of £34,500 at Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium) on May 11.

Flight Lieutenant Maurice ‘Mark’ Mounsdon was one of only four remaining members of Sir Winston Churchill’s ‘The Few’ when he died in 2019 aged 101.

A woodcut by German Expressionist Max Pechstein (1881-1955) brought overseas interest to Kinghams (23% buyer’s premium) back on March 3-5.

Spotlight on honours sold recently includes courageous lifesavers from civilian backgrounds.

London dealer Richard Green was the successful bidder on a Sir William Nicholson (1872- 1949) still-life sold for £440,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium).

The Our Gang range of Second World War ‘types’ were designed for the Bovey Pottery Company by architect Fenton Wyness (1903-74) and modelled by artist Gwynneth Holt (1909-95). Both were based in Aberdeen in the 1940s.

This late 18th century portrait bust of a gentleman by a sculptor from the circle of Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823) is traditionally thought to depict the prominent British Whig statesman Charles James Fox (1749-1806).

Copies of royal portraits from across the centuries are something that always seems to catch the eye when you flick through (or scroll through) the reams of pictures listed in auction catalogues.

Arguably the most famous portraits of an English king are Hans Holbein the Younger’s (c.1497-1543) depictions of Henry VIII.

The medallion of a kneeling slave asking the rhetorical question 'Am I Not A Man And A Brother?' was first made in 1787 on the founding of the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

Translating simply as ‘a box with drawers’ but so much more exotic than that, a rare Spanish Renaissance caja con cajones was the outstanding lot at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood’s (25% buyer’s premium) quarterly fine art sale in Exeter.

An auction house in Bristol is celebrating its 10th anniversary in business by holding 10 sales in as many days.

Among the most extraordinary of all navigational charts are the lattice ‘stick maps’ used by Marshall Islanders.

Woolley & Wallis has launched an internship scheme to help train the next generation of art and antiques specialists.

Focus on 19th century works by continental European artists sold recently

A woodland scene by Hungarian painter Bertalan Pór (1880-1964) caught the eye of a number of bidders at a Cotswolds saleroom.