West Midlands

More people than ever are getting hooked on angling, says the Angling Trust which reported that in 2023-24 as a result of participation events more than 43,000 people tried fishing for the first time.

A large-scale work by Royal Worcester’s near-legendary craftsman George Owen (1845-1912) led a recent sale at Philip Serrell (20% buyer’s premium) in Malvern, Worcestershire.

First event at this time of year generates encouraging feedback and a healthy string of sale successes

Book was published by champion of Swiss Calvinism four years before he became a Protestant martyr

Far more fluent than us in the language of jewellery and stones, Georgians and the Victorians would immediately have made the link between snakes and eternal love.

An early 18th century onion-shaped decanter or carafe offered at Halls (24% buyer’s premium) in Shrewsbury was of particular interest for a point-engraved inscription to the body. It read 'The Kit Kat Club at the Fountain Tavern on the Strand'.

A monumental and important William De Morgan architectural tile panel with an exceptional provenance has sold for £65,000 in Stourbridge.

The velocipede is considered the direct forerunner to the modern bicycle, especially a series of French examples produced with pedals, cranks and handlebars in the 1850s-60s.

Since Patek Philippe brought out the Calatrava in the 1930s, the watch – with time-only functionality and an austere circular case shape – has been produced in many different dial and case variants.

Dealers were out in force to buy from other traders at an annual showground event praised as busy but friendly

Turned down by several publishers, Beatrix Potter shouldered the expense of privately printing The Tale of Peter Rabbit with Strangeways Printers in December 1901.

Anniversary of the movement inspires exhibitors attending the next show at Birmingham's NEC

“I’ve been an auctioneer for 30 years now and it took me two hours to sell 34 lots – so you get the idea of the interest and levels of bidders.”

In terms of Modern British pictures sold around the country over the last year, a number of highlights came late in the day.

The first two great collections of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories were gathered from their original appearances in Strand Magazine by its proprietor George Newnes (Southampton Street and Exeter Street, Strand, London) and issued in book form.