Wiltshire

In 1953, the same year as the successful Mount Everest expedition were equipped with Rolex wristwatches, Rolex released the Oyster Perpetual Explorer.

Two Cartier brooches commissioned by Sir Stephen Courtauld for his wife have gone on display at Eltham Palace, eight months after they were sold at auction by Dreweatts in Newbury.

Mikaela and Roger Boon’s well-supported biannual vintage fair in the village of Wilton, near Salisbury, has its first outing of the year on Saturday, March 1, in the Michael Herbert Hall.

The highlight of an extensive selection of Barbie dolls offered at Wessex Auction Rooms (19% buyer’s premium) proved to be, as predicted, an example of the very earliest produced.

Lanchester Road in County Durham is a route leading eventually into the village of that name, surrounded by fields but essentially unremarkable.

The latest sale of Petroliana at Richard Edmonds Auctions (12/20% buyer’s premium) in Chippenham included a super-rare English oil can.

The Long Gallery at Messums West – established as Messums Wiltshire in 2016 by Johnny Messum – originally functioned as an equine stable.

An auctioneer who relocated to the West Country after working at a London saleroom for eight years has launched two antiques fairs.

A rare military issue by The International Watch Company sold well above estimate at Wessex Auction Rooms (19% buyer’s premium) in Chippenham, Wiltshire.

With a rusty blade and seemingly anonymous scabbard, an ornate hilt was the key as to why an Indian tulwar sword estimated at £100-200 instead sold for a huge hammer price of £109,500 (plus 22% buyer’s premium).

When it comes to the portraits of the Swiss artist Firmin Massot (1766- 1849), it tends to be depictions of young female sitters shown either full length of ‘jusqu’aux genoux’ (as far as the knees) – a format he often favoured – that attract the most attention commercially.

The Royal Doulton figure Guy Fawkes designed by Charles Noke was issued as HN98 from 1918.