Dorset

A dealer’s entire stock of antique and later domestic and collectable silver was stolen during a break in at a shop in Sherborne, Dorset.

A flintlock sporting gun presented by Napoleon Bonaparte is estimated at £70,000-100,000 in a single-owner collection at Charterhouse in Sherborne on November 11.

Frances Allitt and Laura Chesters report on business developments in Paris, London and Dorset

Combining the designs of Napoleon’s architect Charles Percier (1764-1838) and the horological skills of Parisian clockmaker Lesieur (fl.1790-1850), this French Empire astronomical double bureau clock took a multi-estimate £9800 at Busby (25% buyer’s premium) in Bridport.

Generally considered to be the first English bible, the ‘Matthew’s Version’ or ‘Matthew’s Bible’ was brought out under the superintendence of John Rogers (c.1500-55) and joins together the works of William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale.

Relatively few Britannia Standard silver dinner services from the Queen Anne period are available to buy.

A specialist auction house in Dorset was able to offer an array of sought-after Art Deco French posters by the renowned designer AM Cassandre

Two small single-owner collections of Martin Brothers stoneware were offered in June: one at Catherine Southon (27.6% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Chislehurst, Kent, on June 17, the other as part of the Charterhouse (25% buyer’s premium) June 25 sale in Sherborne, Dorset.

Two medieval illuminated manuscripts identified as being late 19th century or early 20th century fakes attributed to The Spanish Forger are being sold in Dorset on June 25 estimated at £500-1000.

If The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers are to your liking, a large single-owner collection of military medals comprising nearly 100 lots dedicated to the regiment offered in Somerset on May 28 would have caught your eye.

Guided at £800-1200, a 10in (26cm) medieval ‘rotating’ or ‘register’ bookmark sold at £7000 at Semley Auctioneers (22% buyer’s premium) in Shaftesbury, Dorset on May 16.

Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) of Dorchester sold a Victorian diamond and natural saltwater pearl double pendant brooch for £570,000 earlier this year, a house record for jewellery.

Two new antiques shops which opened in 2025 within 60 miles of each other are celebrating a successful first year’s collaboration.