UK

Bought for just £40 last year, two rare bronze buttons designed by Alberto Giacometti for Elsa Schiaparelli hammered for £48,000 at the latest Modern Decorative Art & Design sale at Bonhams Knightsbridge.

An Adelie penguin egg collected by Herbert Ponting (1871-1935) on the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition came for sale in Nantwich on January 8.

A scarce copy of Beatrix Potter’s 'The Fairy Caravan' sold for £3000 in Tennants’ (24% buyer’s premium) Books, Maps & Manuscripts Sale.

One of the eight York Rose brooches given by Prince Albert to the bridesmaids who attended his marriage to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923 sold for £15,000.

This carved wooden tobacconist figure or ‘Cigar Indian’ came to Ewbank’s (25% buyer’s premium) auction in Send, Surrey, by descent through the vendor’s family.

A rare first edition of Enid Blyton’s first published book, Child Whispers, hammered at £1400 in the Thomson Roddick (20% buyer’s premium) book sale on December 4.

His image appears in seemingly every possible format, from postage stamps to chocolates and biscuit tins.

Not that many footballers can be “as deeply woven into Leicester City and Scarborough football history as Colin Appleton (1936-2021)”, it is true.

Did you know that Great Britain are still the Olympic tug of war champions? The City of London Police Team competed for GB in the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, winning gold – and the category has not appeared since at a Games.

This imposing pair of 3ft 8in (1.09m) high hexagonal form vases combine both early 19th century Chinese and later 19th century French craftsmanship.

It is rare to find a well-preserved example of a 19th century 'palepai'.

A feast of exhibitions awaits art and antiques lovers when they venture out to the country’s museums both big and small this year

A group of works by George Richmond (1809-96) offered at auction at the end of last year showed plenty of life remains in the market for the London-born painter.

Exhibitor at Welsh fair turned her passion for tokens into a sales success as part of her antiques business

Doulton figures and jugs depicting the famous and not-so-familiar include sought-after rarities

Little is known about Soiree Cigarettes or the firm behind them and it is only thanks to the collectable cards it issued in Mauritius that its name appears in web search results today.