Auctions catering to holiday shoppers will be in full swing over the next five days, with sales offering gift items ranging in size and suitability from a wooden birdhouse with shingles to a Steinway baby grand piano. Jewelry will be featured at most of them and is likely to command top prices.

Briggs Auction in Garnet Valley will offer more than 100 lots of jewelry from the estate of Purdon W. Frey of York, including a 10.85-carat diamond brooch set in platinum, at a sale beginning at 5 p.m. today. Briggs president John Turner expects the set to bring $10,000 to $12,000.

The auction also features a 150-piece collection of majolica, including 40 tobacco jars, and a Wedgwood rice bowl decorated with a peacock and accompanied by a matching spoon.

Preview is from 9 a.m. to sale time at the gallery at 1347 Naamans Creek Rd. For information, call 610-566-3138 or go to www.BriggsAuction.com .

Pook & Pook Variety Sale. The shingled birdhouse and the Steinway are among the more than 700 lots to be offered today by Pook & Pook Inc. at the second session of its two-day variety sale at the gallery, 463 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown. Although the session begins at 9 a.m., the birdhouse, which has a presale estimate of $50 to $75, and the piano, with one of $4,000 to $6,000, are unlikely to go on the block much before noon.

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer