Auctioneers

The handwritten journal of Colonel Christopher Rigby, recording his success in securing freedom for thousands of slaves in east Africa, was the highlight of a collection of his papers sold in London.

A copy of the very first issue of Captain America soared to £320,000 (£235,640) at Heritage Auctions.

Another auction house staging regular sales of Scottish Contemporary art is McTear’s of Glasgow, whose next auction in this category takes place on February 28.

James Perkins, the co-founder of rave music promoter Fantazia, kept an eclectic collection of Contemporary art at Aynhoe Park in Oxfordshire.

The largest contingent of works by British abstract painter John Blackburn (b.1932) ever to come to auction will be offered at Cheffins of Cambridge on February 25.

A large group of works from the collection of Allen and Beryl Freer has been consigned to Chiswick Auctions.

The world record for a George Cross has been broken by a medal awarded to a courageous British soldier who died in captivity during the Korean War.

With all 80 lots getting away – 79 to a single UK collector – a group of walking sticks totalled more than £40,000 at Charterhouse (25% buyer’s premium).

A manuscript volume sold for £4200 was the main attraction of a sale held by Crow’s (22% buyer’s premium) of Dorking.

Among the surprises at a Contemporary art sale at Ketterer (25% buyer’s premium) in Munich was the result for a work by the painter-poet Henri Michaux.

Until its sale last year, Newbold Pacey Hall had been the seat of the Little family since the house was built by William Little in c.1780-90.

The Madoura pottery founded by Suzanne and Georges Ramié in Vallauris, a village in the south of France renowned for pottery production, was a popular place for many artists in the post-war years. From 1948-55 Pablo Picasso lived in Vallauris and divided his time between painting and creating ceramics at Madoura.

A recent sale at Cotswold Auction Company (22% buyer’s premium) included a single-owner collection of antiquities from Lionel Walrond (1927-2020).

A drawing by Alexander Archipenko (1887-1964) will be among the lots on offer at Sworders’ sale of Modern British & 20th Century art on April 20.

The American artist Donald Judd (1928-94) abandoned painting in the 1960s and devoted himself to producing three-dimensional objects.

A Roman floor panel sold at auction in 2018 and then to an international buyer will be reunited with two other fragments from the same mosaic after a successful fundraising appeal to keep it in the UK.

On a day when furniture and antiques proved to be particularly popular, the surprise star of Fellows’ (23% buyer’s premium) 740-lot online sale was an Italian 19th century pier mirror.

Property from the collection of Mrs Henry Ford II is being offered by more than one auction house this year. Christie’s has sales in New York on March 30 and London on April 15, and Doyle (26/21/15% buyer’s premium) held a single-owner selection in its New York rooms on January 25.

A naval logbook kept by Matthew Perry offered in New York covered a very eventful period in this distinguished mariner’s career.

An abstract painting by Aubrey Williams (1926-90) offered at Grand Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Folkestone at the end of last year set another auction high for the Guyanese artist.