Melbourne is the premier attraction

Topping a very successful sale by Reading specialists Special Auction Services ( 15% buyer’s premium) on March 12 was this rare brown stoneware spirit flask, left, by Oldfield & Co. Date c.1835 and depicting the then Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. The 9 1/4in (23.5cm) flask sold on its mid-estimate £3000.

On a day when there were only a dozen unsolds among the 730 ceramic commemoratives on offer, all 30 …

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