UK

In December, Wellers’ Guildford saleroom will offer a seminal suite of furniture by Ambrose Heal (1872-1959) consigned by a member of the family who purchased it at the turn of the 20th century.

A gang of robbers wearing ‘Halloween’ type masks and dressed all in black got more than they bargained for when staff at the well-known Hemswell Antiques Centre fought back to foil their raid.

A portable writing desk once owned by George Eliot is still missing after being stolen from Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery.

Spink have announced a series of developments aimed at reinforcing the company’s global standing with a particular emphasis on New York.

Two television programmes are in the pipeline to raise awareness of the ‘Save Cork Street’ campaign, as the Mayfair street’s art galleries continue their fight against redevelopment plans.

The toast of November’s clutch of Asian art sales was not to be found in London or Salisbury but in Leyburn.

This Märklin 0 gauge 20 volt electric train is a model of the ‘Earl Marischal’ (no 2002), a LNER P2 Mikado 2-8-2 locomotive built in 1935 to pull passenger trains on the Edinburgh/Aberdeen line.

This carved oak box (with later leather case) is believed to have been the property of the poet Robert Burns and dates from his days as an exciseman.

This hallmarked silver and ivory oval tray by Asprey of London is a highlight at McTear’s silver auction on November 27 in Glasgow.

Known as specialists in early oak and vernacular works of art, Wilkinson’s will host their next sale on November 25 at The Old Salesroom in Doncaster.

Advertising ephemera from two large collections is on offer at Chippenham Auction Rooms on November 24 in Wiltshire.

John Edgeler and Roger Little are slipware evangelists. The pair are devoted to extolling the virtues of 20th century slipware by Michael Cardew (1901-82) and his peers at Winchcombe pottery.

The strong historical appeal and the internet are two reasons for the growing interest in postcards, says David Smith, who runs IPM Promotions’ monthly postcard and collectors’ fair in Central London.

Newbury may have had Kirstie Allsopp, Ardingly may have had Cara Delevingne and many a London fair or market can boast of celebrity visits – but far-off Anglesey has now trumped them all.

It had previously been thought that Daniel Fahrenheit only ever made two of the original mercury thermometers he invented in 1714, both of which are in the collection of the Museum Boerhaave, in Leiden in the Netherlands.

It was the emergence of the very useful but somewhat hazardous ‘strike anywhere’ match in the 1830s that necessitated the fashion for vesta cases.

Wine labels from the old and celebrated Sandeman collection provided 63 lots to Woolley & Wallis’ sale in Salisbury last month.

Scarborough saleroom David Duggleby posted a house record for furniture when a suite of oak Arts and Crafts furniture from the workshop of Cotswold School cabinet maker Peter Waals (1870-1937) sold as a single lot for £31,000 at their latest auction.

Richard Winterton is moving his family-owned auction business back into Lichfield city centre after a gap of nearly 30 years.

Modern firsts from the library of Clive Hirschhorn produced plenty of strong and many record prices at Bloomsbury Auctions but a number of significant works did not sell. As such, this was an important sale for illustrating the vagaries of the market.