Shropshire

The Wimshurst influence machine, an electrostatic generator capable of creating high voltages, was developed between 1880-83 by British inventor James Wimshurst (1832-1903).

A very early railway guide, still in the original decorative boards, was a rare and unusual lot in a recent held by Mullock’s (20% buyer’s premium).

The minaudière, a case for storing several personal items in a small space, first appeared during the 1930s.

Caughley Porcelain was founded in Shropshire (at Broseley) so it is hardly surprising that local saleroom Halls has been offering its fair share of consignments from this 18th century factory whose wares rivalled those of the Staffordshire potteries and Worcester in particular.

Halls of Shrewsbury is to sell more than 400 paintings on behalf of Lloyds Bank in an online sale later this month. The consignment will make up part of a Modern and Contemporary Art online auction, which starts on January 17 and ends on January 31.

Jeremy Lamond, former director of Halls, will be joining auction house Woolley & Wallis at the end of March 2020 as head of the valuations department and associate director.

An impressive 23in (58cm) tall Sèvres vase offered by Shropshire auction house Trevanion & Dean (20% buyer’s premium) had a lot going for it historically but a considerable amount of condition problems.

Designed for the Suffragette movement by Sylvia Pankhurst, a 19-piece tea service was the star at Halls’ (20%) buyer’s premium) sale in Shrewsbury.

An RAF Second World War brown leather Type C flying helmet with goggles estimated at £400-500 in the Halls (23% buyer’s premium) Books, Medals & Militaria Auction on August 21 soared to £3400.

Sphairistike, an ancient Greek term meaning skill in playing at ball, was the name Major Walter Wingfield chose for the game he patented and first advertised early in 1874.

Offered at a recent sale at Mullock’s in Ludlow were three early-19th century games pitched at £150-200 apiece but sold at much higher sums.

This Arts & Crafts-style necklace, alternating moonstone and chalcedony cabochons set in scrolling silver mounts, is the unmistakable work of the London jeweller Sybil Dunlop (1889-1968).

Before he learnt to paint, Sheffield-born artist Joe Scarborough (b.1938) was a laboratory assistant at Batchelors, the processed food company, then a face worker at the Thorpe Hesley colliery.

The biggest literary impression in a recent Shrewsbury sale that combined medals and militaria with well over 200 lots of books and ephemera was made by poets – famous and otherwise.

Shropshire auction house Trevanion & Dean has taken on four new members of staff as joint founder Aaron Dean has chosen to leave and Christina Trevanion has taken on sole ownership of the firm.

Early English oak and yew and ceramics from St Petersburg to Stoke-on-Trent were features of a 250-lot sale which left auctioneer Jeremy Lamond in a quietly upbeat mood after Halls’ (23% buyer’s premium) summer sale at Shrewsbury.