Auctioneers

The auction process is a key part of the secondary art and antiques market.

Firms of auctioneers usually specialise in a number of fields such as jewellery, ceramics, paintings, Asian art or coins but many also hold general sales where the goods available are not defined by a particular genre and are usually lower in value.

Auctioneers often provide other services such as probate and insurance valuations.

Pen and ink silhouettes Mendip auction rooms

Five lots that caught bidders’ eyes including pen and ink silhouettes, a Qing model of a tree and an 18th century casket

12 October 2018

ATG’s selection of highlights sold at auctions this week, including a model tree taken from the Chinese emperor's Summer Palace.

Carlton Ware

Five Carlton Ware Art Deco designs to dazzle at auction

11 October 2018

More than 50 lots of colourful Carlton Ware Art Deco pottery are up for sale in Salisbury next week.

Mouseman dresser Horlicks collection

Mighty mouse: Horlicks’ Mouseman commission stirs up Essex auction room

10 October 2018

The Horlicks collection of Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson furniture was sold at Sworders auction yesterday for £236,000.

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Eyes right for two striking photographs by Cameron and McCurry on offer in American auction

10 October 2018

If eyes really are the windows into the soul then two photographs taken nearly 120 years apart give the viewer plenty to ponder.

Cottingley Fairies

Hammer highlights: five lots that caught bidders’ eyes including photographs of a fairy hoax that famously duped Arthur Conan Doyle.

09 October 2018

ATG’s selection of highlights sold at auctions last week, including a rare 18th century left-handed cricket bat and photographs of a fairy hoax that famously duped Arthur Conan Doyle.

Bishton Hall

Contents of a Staffordshire manor house comes to auction in Derbyshire

09 October 2018

Derbyshire auction house Hansons is selling the complete contents of a Staffordshire manor house next week. Bishton Hall, at Wolseley Bridge, near Stafford, was built and has been home to the Stafford Northcote family and Saint Bede’s Prep School since 1946.

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Buyers dig deep for classical ‘Roman’ bust at Sheffield auction

08 October 2018

A classical marble bust took an unexpected £129,000 at Sheffield Auction Gallery on September 21.

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Studio pottery – UK regional salerooms are filling a market gap

08 October 2018

If the work of the best modern and contemporary artists is typically confined to a small coterie of London auctioneers, then the same cannot be said of the best modern and contemporary ceramics.

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‘Chinese Mona Lisa’ comes to auction from Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick

08 October 2018

Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury will sell an important oil by Chinese contemporary artist Yang Fei Yun (b.1954) next month. It comes for sale from the charity established by Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick (1942-2007).

Auction preview selection

What to buy: Five auctions to watch this week (October 8-14 2018)

08 October 2018

From studio pottery in Macclesfield to jewellery in Birmingham, here are five previews from upcoming sales this week.

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Salisbury saleroom becomes travel hub twice a year to cover tribal art market

08 October 2018

The biannual world tour of tribal lands – Alaska to New Zealand via Arizona, Africa and Taiwan – organised by auctioneer Will Hobbs at Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’s premium) offered a global view of what is an active, if often unpredictable, field.

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Paris dancer swings into sale

08 October 2018

Striking depiction of Folies Bergère entertainer is among eclectic selection offered in Sussex.

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Rare Indian Army photos march into saleroom

08 October 2018

Types of the Indian Army… of 1897 is a photographically illustrated oblong folio work from which the mounted carbon print shown below, one of 60 in all, is taken.

Coin

Value of English coinage increases at Mayfair dealership Sovereign Rarities' first auction

08 October 2018

Landmark prices were paid for rare large-denomination English coins when Mayfair coin dealership Sovereign Rarities conducted its first auction on September 25.

Vase

Pick of the Week: Pair to the ‘Bainbridge vase’ sells for £14.6m at Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction

08 October 2018

The pair to the famous ‘Bainbridge vase’ sold in Hong Kong on October 3 for HK$130m (£12.75m) plus premium. Five bidders competed for the lot.

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When British beer cans burst into life at auction

08 October 2018

In the long history of beer, the can is a relative newcomer. The first canned beer came with the end of Prohibition in the US – the shiny new light-weight packaging used by Krueger’s in Richmond, Virgina, to market a pasteurised beverage from January 1935.

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Previews: £30,000 plus

08 October 2018

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Ivory ban law not expected until spring 2019

08 October 2018

Collectors and sellers of antique ivory are being told that the ivory ban is unlikely to become law before spring 2019, a longer lead-time than originally thought.

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Flemish artist’s Allegory of Winter offered at Vienna sale

08 October 2018

Winter is putting in an early appearance at Dorotheum in Vienna in the sale of Old Master paintings on October 23 in the shape of a 20in x 2ft 2in (52 x 66cm) oak panel Allegory of Winter, painted by Flemish artist Sebastiaen Vrancx (1573-1647).

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Portrait subject spurs bidder to a high price

08 October 2018

Standing proud in full riding wear, this early 20th century portrait of a female rider and her two terriers, below, struck a chord with bidders in Sussex.

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