Salvage & Architectural Antiques

A late 18th century bust of the Goddess Diana which was looted from the Royal Lazienki Palace in Warsaw by the Nazis has been returned to Poland after emerging at auction in Vienna.

This spectacular barn find, an ebonised coromandel and inlaid octagonal centre table designed by Edward Godwin (1833-86), sold for £31,000 at Sworders’ sale of decorative art and design in Stansted Mountfitchet.

A superb combination of history, condition and rarity came together as a figurehead from a Brazilian slavers’ ship sold at Essex saleroom Sworders for ten times the low estimate at £50,000.

In May actor Michael Sheen starred in a BBC Wales TV adaptation of ‘Under Milk Wood’ and has taken part in several Dylan Thomas tributes in this centenary year of the poet’s birth.

For a cast-iron sign that spring has brought a resurgence in the garden look to the results of the recent biannual sale of garden design at Summers Place Auctions where Coalbrookdale seats were back in the limelight.

First seen by auctioneers Capes Dunn in 1987 during an insurance valuation, this pietra-dura table has now been consigned to their next sale.

A renewed appeal for information has been made after part of a medieval burial stone was stolen in Herefordshire as thieves targeting church monuments seem to have become active again.

Created by the 20th century Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto, this Paimio seat, with a model no. of 41, is to be included in Sworders’ Decorative Art Sale on January 29 in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex.

Thirty original Art Deco seats from Cirencester’s Regal Cinema, demolished in 2004, are going under the hammer at local auction house Moore Allen & Innocent on October 12.

Recently rescued from Kent & Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells, a selection of 13 Carter tiles attributed to Phyllis Butler are to be offered at Bonhams Knightsbridge on October 16.

Weathervanes have always been at the pinnacle of aspirations for collectors of American folk art.

This stunning pair of 19th century blue john pedestal urns was the outstanding star at Tennants’ £1.8m summer sale at Leyburn.

Two more churches have been hit by thieves in the latest of a series of break-ins targeting medieval monuments and carvings.

This impressive run of lidded urns once adorned the grounds of Witley Court, the palatial mansion in Worcestershire built by Thomas Foley in 1655.

IT survived the Reformation and had been buried in a churchyard for safekeeping before being rediscovered nearly 200 years ago, but this ‘very rare’ medieval reredos panel has now fallen victim to thieves.

Bidders in the room, on the phones and the internet were all in action last week to contest the 475-lot sale of the collection of Will Fisher, founder of London dealers Jamb, at Christie’s South Kensington.

TWO William Burges windows that surfaced at auction in Salisbury last year have been sold back to the house for which they were originally made.

AMONG the more unusual entries to Mallams' latest sale in Cheltenham was this early Victorian table carved from parrot coal.

THIS diminutive table seen at Cambridge auctioneers Cheffins on the second day of their September 23-24 sale was a miniature version of the famous circular expanding dining table designed by Robert Jupe of Welbeck Street, London.

Surrey fine art auctioneers Ewbank are selling architectural stonework from the Palace of Westminster that dates from before the buildings were destroyed by fire and rebuilt in the 1830s.