Auctioneers

The outstanding lot in the arms and armour sale held in London on June 30 by Thomas Del Mar (25% buyer’s premium) was the £96,000 16th century Augsburg close helmet illustrated on the front page of last week’s ATG (No 2501).

A sale at Wilson55 (22% buyer’s premium) in Nantwich this month was topped at £22,000 by an 18th century Flemish ebony and tortoiseshell veneered cabinet.

Cheffins (24.5% buyer’s premium) in Cambridge has enjoyed some fine referrals from Christie’s in recent times.

Two rare and evocative paintings depicting a 19th century ironworks in South Wales were hotly contested at a recent Dreweatts (25% buyer’s premium) sale.

Prize examples of French 18th century furniture were on offer at Drouot when Hughes Taquet of the auction house Hôtel des Ventes de Mantes-La-Jolie (26.4% buyer’s premium inc VAT) offered the collection of René Siméoni.

Artworks by another legendary musician, Bob Dylan (b.1941), drew decent competition once again at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) this summer.

Among the earlier printed books, Bibles played their part in a wide-ranging auction held by Forum Auctions (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium), and none so financially well as a fine, clean example of Robert Estienne’s Greek text Bible of 1550.

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including news of Colonial Williamsburg buying a Washington ‘Indian peace medal’.

Among the properties included in the June Thomas Del Mar sale was the McEwen collection of bows and associated items which proved unexpectedly popular raising £30,000, around four times its top estimate.

A recent sale at Bentley’s (19% buyer’s premium) in Cranbrook, Kent included a rare US Presidential lifesaving medallion.

The price gulf that once existed between good 18th century French furniture and very good late 19th century revivalism is no longer visible at auction. A quality reproduction can often outsell its period exemplar.

With their cross-over collecting appeal to the automobile market, Lalique 'bouchons de radiator' – car mascots or hood ornaments – assume their own price levels.

A quintessential example of avant-garde Art Deco jewellery by a French designer who was renowned for such modernist pieces was the toast of Christie’s (25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) online Jewellery sale in Paris which closed on July 7.

What is known as Indo-Chinese art frequently comes up for auction in France, in part because this area of south-east Asia was formerly a French colony.

Two lots from the March 30 live online auction held by Antony Cribb (22% buyer’s premium) of Newbury are shown here.

An early painting by Roger ‘Syd’ Barrett (1946-2006) of Pink Floyd led a 200-lot picture section at a recent Cheffins (22.5% buyer’s premium) sale.

Very soon after the gun was invented men were trying to find ways of speeding up the process of reloading powder and shot to obtain a superior rate of fire.

The prize lot sold at a recent Hermann Historica (25% buyer’s premium) sale in Munich was this 19th century Ottoman kilij of characteristic form with a curved blade swelling towards the tip.

Three pistol lots came to the fore at a recent sale at Bonhams (27.5/25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) in London.

Once the humble playthings of boys the world over, airguns now attract a keen collector following.