North Yorkshire

A number of portraits of women from different periods of history were among the most contested pictures at sales around the country in the early part of this year.

Knowledgeable bidders spot a design by Owen Jones on offer in North Yorkshire

Estimated at £100-150, a group of six items of Second World War army kit ended up selling for £4000 at Tennants (22% buyer’s premium).

A dreamy interwar architectural portrait of Pilgrims Hall, Essex, by Rex Whistler (1905-44) generated interest at Tennants (22% buyer’s premium) of Leyburn, North Yorkshire, on March 19.

Eight different colourways of the classic Whitefriars Banjo vase were offered in a single-owner private collection at Tennants (22% buyer’s premium).

Henry William Dee, the son of Soho silversmith Thomas William Dee (c.1792- 1869), made a speciality of producing silver novelties for Garrard, Leuchars & Son and Asprey’s and other retail goldsmiths. There was real genius here and the patterns for many were patented.

The London firm Samuel Jackson seems to have specialised in mounting other materials in silver to produce wine-coolers.

Galloway Antiques Fairs is back in North Yorkshire this spring for its Duncombe Park event.

Collectors use the name ‘Snowflake’ to refer the range of Tudor Submariners produced from 1969-75.

Aubrey Beardsley and John Batten add the illustrative attractions in North Yorks sale

The Palais Royale built for Cardinal Richelieu in 1629 had a variety of uses over the years but in the 18th and early 19th century was rebuilt as a place for public recreation and social gathering.

The surprise lot at the sale held on December 11 by Ripon auction house Elstob & Elstob (22% buyer’s premium) was this 19th century Russian hunting dagger.

Rarely do 19th century Staffordshire figures feature among the top-selling lots at auction these days but two bare-fist boxing champions did just that.

The undoubted star of the November 24 sale at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) was the early 15th century folding almanac, or girdle book, that took £95,000.

An antiques shop is part of a now award-winning imaginative transformation of some of a North Yorkshire railway station’s disused buildings.

One of around 30 known medieval English folding almanacs, and one of only a few in private hands, sold for £95,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) at Tennants.

The windmill cup was the most popular of the novelty silver wager cups produced from the late 16th century until the early 18th century.

The Northern Antiques Fair looks set to move permanently from Harrogate following a successful first outing at Tennants auction house complex.

The Northern Antiques Fair looks set to move permanently from Harrogate following a successful first outing at the new venue of the Tennants auction house complex in Leyburn.

Eye-catching and ear-pleasing, this early example of a monkey chamber orchestra musical automaton picture was one of the star performers at Tennants’ (20% buyer premium) Scientific and Musical Instruments sale.