Auctioneers

A picture of a famous Italian Grand Tour view by one of the best-regarded artists of the American Hudson River school of painting is one of the highlights of a sale at Skinner in Boston on January 24.

December 10 marked a significant step in the history of specialist sporting and antique gun auction house Holts (25-20% buyer’s premium).

Private domestic demand rather than trade drives bidding at Scottish and Irish art auctions.

This carte de visite picturing the author Mark Twain (Samuel L Clemens) is signed and inscribed twice.

The Homes & Interiors sale at Bonhams Los Angeles on February 3 includes this Sèvres flower vase or Cuvette à Fleurs Courteille, measuring 10¼in (26cm) wide, estimated at $4000-6000.

One fascinating section of a recent Thomas Del Mar (25% buyer’s premium) sale featured Stone Age and Viking weapons and artefacts from a European private collection.

The English artist and poster designer Alfred Thomson (1894-1979) painted this eye-catching depiction of the famous penguin pool at London Zoo.

The fact that Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) regularly made use of a magnifying glass is noted by biographers and underlined by references found in his letters.

Items from the homes of MJ Long (1939-2018) and Colin ‘Sandy’ St John Wilson (1922-2007), the husband and wife team that designed the British Library, come for sale at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet later this month.

A harbour view of Maryport in Cumbria by Victorian artist William Mitchell (1806-1900) topped the lots at local saleroom Mitchells (20% buyer’s premium).

The Old Master paintings section of the sale taking place at Doyle in New York on February 5 will include this large and imposing portrait of Pauline Bonaparte, the younger sister of Napoleon.

Two spectacular early-19th century British presentation sabres have turned up in the salerooms recently, one in London and the other in Munich.

The limited, but international, appeal of a remarkable collection of about 350 Victorian hand-painted glass eyes was clear at East Bristol Auctions (18% buyer’s premium).

Pocket guide to pleasure stimulates in Staffs and saucy memoir excites bidders in Yorks.

This watercolour drawing by Charles Addams was one of the more successful lots in a December 10 Illustration Art sale held by Swann Galleries (25/20/10% buyer’s premium) in New York.

The most interesting recent art world case to find its way to trial, with judgment given in December 2019, was Sotheby’s vs Mark Weiss Limited (‘MWL’) and Fairlight Art Ventures Limited (‘Fairlight’).

Among the very earliest printed works sold at auction at the end of last year was a beautifully illuminated Biblia Latina printed in August 1462, just seven years after the great Gutenberg Bible.

Among the more inspired catalogue cover illustrations featured in the end-of-year book auctions was one produced by Bonhams (27.5/25/20/13.9%) for a December 4 sale.

Sotheby’s holds the first of its New York series of Old Master paintings and drawings at the end of January with its Masters Week sales running from January 24-31.

A collection of Irish glass built in the 1930s by artist Jean (Musgrave) Jameson was topped by a pair of c.1800 flat-cut urns and covers Adam’s (23% buyer’s premium) of Dublin.