South-west England

Recent auction sales shone the spotlight on pioneering photographers active in the first days of the art

Thirty-eight lots offered in Bath included a strong array of 20th century works assembled in London

It’s time for the annual Festival of Cards when 60-plus dealers will head to Junction 24, an events centre in North Petherton, near Bridgwater, Somerset, on Thursday and Friday, March 28-29.

This silver and parcel gilt ‘Komai’ bachelor tea set by Elkington & Co sold for £16,000 (plus 23.5% buyer’s premium) at British Bespoke Auctions.

An elaborate 18th century French skeleton clock tentatively linked with two leading names working in Paris during the golden age of French clockmaking led a recent Kidson Trigg’s (20% buyer’s premium) sale in Swindon.

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

Based in workshops near the Place des Bergues in Geneva in the 1850s-60s, the jeweller Auguste Dutertre (1798-1866) found a niche making so-called ‘bijoux à montres’ - watch movements concealed in notebooks, powder-boxes or, as here, a pair of lorgnettes.

Stoneware vases and jugs from the famed Martin Brothers also show their sense of style and character

The latest silver and jewellery sale at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (26/25% buyer’s premium) in Exeter included two Georgian 18ct gold pocket watches from two generations of the Drummond family.

Two English Delftware plates, described on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow a decade ago as “as rare as you can get”, went under the hammer at Woolley & Wallis (26% buyer’s premium) on February 5.

The Bath Decorative Antiques Fair returns to The Pavilion venue from March 13-15.

Salisbury saleroom holds specialist offering staged as part of a three-day sale as demand increases

The so-called ‘dummy board’ or ‘silent companion’ is believed to have originated in Holland during the early 17th century.

The star attaction at Stephen Large’s third monthly antiques fair at the Livermead House Hotel in Torquay on Sunday, March 23, is TV personality Paul Martin.

Shortly after the production of the first batch of his jasperware abolitionist medallion, Josiah Wedgwood sent a package to Benjamin Franklin with a covering letter dated February 1788 saying: “I embrace the opportunity to inclose [sic] for the use of your Excellency and friends, a few Cameos on a subject I am happy to acquaint you is daily more and more taking possession of men’s minds on this side of the Atlantic as well as with you.