West Midlands

Priced on the cover at nine pence, it was a British copy of a Marvel comic of 1983, one that saw the first appearance of the mighty Thor, that led the bidding at £6300 in the comics section of a July 21-22 sale held by Fieldings (24% buyer’s premium).

This cased pair of English flintlock duelling pistols by Joseph Gulley, London, c.1810-15, sold for £8600 at Halls (20/12% buyer’s premium) in a timed online sale that ended on August 2.

A brand-new building on the Dodwell Trading Estate outside Stratford-upon- Avon is the home of the recently opened Top Dog Antiques.

Overseas interest in tribal art and Doulton Lambeth wares fuelled the higher prices at Cuttlestones’ (20% buyer’s premium) Penkridge sale but it was a new outbreak of cardomania which raised temperatures of collectors across England.

“Dealers are coming from far and wide including Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Gloucestershire and of course Worcestershire and the West Midlands in general,” says Paul Rowson, who in May launched his new antiques and collectors’ fair in the atmospheric setting of Hartlebury Castle in Worcester, known as the Bishops’ Palace.

“Analogous to the Tunbridge ware but of a superior character” was Robert Russell’s description of his work at the 1851 Great Exhibition.

This sealed and dated onion in olive green glass, below, comes with a handwritten scrap of paper inscribed 'George found [this bottle] when he dived into the Thames at Windsor'. The seal reads 'S Slater 1710'.

A new record for a Royal Doulton figure has been set in Stoke-on-Trent.

This Art Deco turquoise, rock crystal and black enamelled silver necklace carries the maker’s mark of the celebrated French atelier René Boivin.

The jewellery team at Richard Winterton Auctioneers has expanded.

The Fine Jewellery auction at Fellows on August 4 includes a gold George III mourning ring.

Showing the growing sensitivity towards estimates in the Modern British market, a portrait by Sir Matthew Smith (1879-1959) that had been unsold at Halls last year did rather better when it was reoffered last month with a reduced pitch.

Bright sunflowers and urban scene demonstrate different sides of the Mod Brit artist

This large oak Orientalist carving, 'Eastern Slave Girl', is by the Victorian woodcarver Thomas Henry Kendall.

Book on offer at fishing tackle fair tells story of East End taxidermists who preserved catches

One of the highlights at the timed online of Modern and Contemporary Art Auction at Halls of Shrewsbury, which closes on May 2, is a large painting of sunflowers by John Bratby (1928-92).

The National Vintage Communications Fair has rebranded itself and is now called RetroTechUK.

A 19th century French bronze of a woman in a hat was among the highlight sales at the recent Art & Antiques for Everyone fair at Birmingham’s NEC.

Scottish artist Joseph Farquharson (1846-1935) is best known for his snowy landscapes with sheep that earned him the nickname ‘Frozen Mutton Farquharson’.