UK

Two exceptionally rare celestial globes or spheres have made their mark in Geneva and London salerooms in recent times – and on the same day.

The December 6 jewellery sale at Roseberys (23% buyer’s premium) was the maiden auction for new head of department Mark Bowis.

The year is well under way for Penman Fairs as it gears up for The Chester Antiques Fair.

If you want to find something unusual in the book and ephemera line, then head to one of the fairs held by the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA).

A previously unrecorded painting attributed to Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, the Italian Old Master known as il Guercino (1591-1666), has been consigned to Cambridge auction house Cheffins.

Deemed a little ostentatious in some Western circles, tiaras remain popular with the so-called ‘new’ markets.

The closing nine lots in Lawrences’ January 18 sale were consigned by a lady in Somerset. They had belonged to her mother and grandmother and had been kept in a safe deposit box in the bank for about the last 30 years.

This painting of a saint sold for a multi-estimate £5400 at London Auctions (22% buyer’s premium) in Chiswick.

Exhibition on Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell comes as interest and stock are both healthy

Jewellery specialist Joanna Hardy is usually found in glamorous locations.

An iconographic gold ring – perhaps once belonging to a bishop or senior member of the clergy in the Yorkshire area – sold for £7100 at Hansons (20% buyer’s premium) in Etwall, Derbyshire.

More glamorous sales will take place this year, but a week of four quality auctions at Lawrences (22% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne provided some solid reassurance about the state of the middle market.

A trio of literary discoveries star at Sim Fine Art’s upcoming exhibition.

Promoted as including the contents from a Derbyshire country home, the three-day pre-Christmas sale at Hansons (17.5% buyer’s premium) was more notable for two unusual collections and pieces which came in after a valuation day.

Modern and contemporary British art racked up £195,000 at a Roseberys (23% buyer’s premium) sale, with 80% of the 252 lots sold.

Roman and 20th century poetry, science and sarcasm, Arctic printing, Mayan discoveries, cranes and a porcupine, as well as a miniature master of calligraphy all featured in one of the first large London book sales of the year.

The next three Frock Me vintage fashion fairs this year will be held at the Kensington Town Hall, instead of its usual venue, Chelsea Town Hall, which is being refurbished.

House enhanced by the great architect hosts fresh July fair which is already half booked by dealers wanting to stand.

A set of five Victorian diamond six-point star brooches sold for £26,000 at Golding Young & Mawer (20% buyer’s premium) on January 24. As each star has a hook fitting and a screw fitting for attachment, the set was probably once part of a suite consisting of frames for a tiara, necklace, earrings and brooches.

Among the most desirable of all Second World War wristwatches – a strong suit in this currently hot collecting arena – is the Panerai 3646. This distinctive model was initially intended for the Royal Italian Navy but was also used by German submariners or Kampfschwimmer.