Auctions

This Victorian turquoise and diamond brooch is inscribed verso 'Had Belonged to Dear Grandmamma V. From Mama VR, 14th April 1871'. To Beatrice. It carries an estimate of £3000-5000 at Tennants in Leyburn on November 18.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period August 31-September 6, 2017. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Called shuttles, but a world away from Blake’s dark satanic mills, the two sewing tools illustrated here were hand tools used by elegant ladies doing polite tatting work. The use of luxury materials was designed to reflect their status.

Jewellery designers of the 1930s and '40s were attracted to Bakelite, a plastic resin developed in 1907 for industrial purposes, as it was both hard enough to cut and polish and available in a wide range of colours.

In May 1789, as the political and financial situation in France grew ever bleaker, Louis XVI was forced to summon the three estates – the clergy, nobility and commoners – who had the power to levy taxes and implement reform.

Eureka Stockade has been dubbed as the only ‘battle’ to have taken place in Australia but was in reality little more than a skirmish in global terms. However, the 1854 uprising that cost nearly 30 lives is now recognised as a seminal political event in colonial history and one that marked the birth of democracy in Australia.

A rediscovered Francis Bacon is to be offered at Christie’s next month with a £7m-10m estimate.

This 19th century gold, turquoise and peridot pomander is exceptional both in terms of size and quality.

Jewels by Buccellati, all from European aristocratic collections, feature in the jewellery auction at Dorotheum in Vienna on October 19.

Glasgow saleroom McTear’s holds a dedicated military watch auction on September 19. Most entries are from a private collection and include watches from the so-called ‘Dirty Dozen’ – the 12 Swiss manufacturers commissioned to supply the British Ministry of Defence during the Second World War.

It was a busy summer for Keys (20% buyer’s premium), who had book sales in both July and August.

Jacob ben Asher’s Arba’ah Turim (The Four Orders of the Jewish Code of Law) was compiled in the early 14th century and its dissemination throughout the Diaspora led quickly to its recognition and acceptance by Jewish scholars as an authoritative, convenient and concise approach to Jewish law.

Breathing quality, this 22ct gold, pocket watch, below, was by an apparently unrecorded maker but nevertheless pitched at a positive £3000-3200 at Tamlyns’ (18% buyer’s premium) sale at Bridgwater on August 30.

Among the highlights of the sale at Doyle New York on October 18 are two emerald and diamond brooches set with stones that display the prized deep green colour concentration of Colombian emeralds.

A small white zip-up bag used by Neil Armstrong to bring samples of lunar material back to earth following the historic Apollo 11 moon landing of 1969 was the star lot in a Space Exploration sale held by Sotheby’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on July 20.

A collection from someone with a famous relative will normally prick up the ears of any self-respecting auctioneer.

The slow, but observable, return of competition for fine Japanese works of art was evident at Hannam’s (20% buyer’s premium) of Selborne on August 23 in the form of this large Meiji ivory scholar’s table screen, below.

The coloured stones market remains strong, so Skinner can expect strong international competition for an antique sapphire pendant brooch (below) in Boston on September 19.

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

Something shocking happened on Jermyn Street in 1966. Among the more conservative of London shopping districts – the place for a badger-hair shaving brush or a decent pair of sheepskin slippers – at a stroke it became cool. The charismatic Italian émigré Andrew Grima (1921-2007) had opened a jewellery emporium.