Auctioneers

A large Persian lustre tile dating from c.1300 sold for £95,000 at John Nicholson’s in Haslemere last month.

Tender letters from artist Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones to the daughter of his patron reveal the “emotional support” he craved.

This pastel portrait of a Singaporean merchant by Percy Carpenter (1820-95) is believed to have broken a 30-year auction record for the artist.

Best-seller and one of the biggest surprises at the white-glove sale of a mechanical music collection was a musical box, the catalogue entry of which could be summarised as ‘famous name, doesn’t work’.

The May 22 sale at Dreweatts of Donnington Priory titled Japanese, Islamic and Indian Works of Art included a collection of Iznik and Damascus tiles from the estate of the artist Sir Howard Hodgkin (1932-2017).

Characteristic etching is best-seller in appealing single-owner mix of works on paper.

A rare opportunity to own a watercolour by Prince Charles (b.1948) presented itself when items belonging to the former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and his wife Mary were put up for sale at Hansons (20% buyer’s premium).

A watercolour of a thoroughbred racehorse auction appeared at Chorley’s (20% buyer’s premium) of Prinknash Abbey Park, Gloucestershire, on May 21 – 123 years to the day since it had itself last sold at auction.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales at £800 or under, including Bernard Finegan Gribble maritime work.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

As part of their first world tour, The Beatles played the Princess Theatre in Hong Kong twice in June 1964.

A book billed as the work that marked the birth of modern business will be the subject of a single-lot auction at Christie’s New York on June 12.

Ceramics are a major focus of this report on sales from Germany. The selection of highlights and unusual pieces ranges from early 19th century products of the Vienna factory via Art Nouveau creations and 1920s Soviet-era porcelain to works by famed 20th century Studio potters.

Coming fresh to market from a corn merchant’s shop, seven early/mid- 20th century enamel signs extolling Spratt’s pet food for dogs, cats and canaries attracted UK collectors to Bishop & Miller’s (20% buyer’s premium) Stowmarket sale on May 17.

The hope at every house clearance came true for Reading auctioneer Chris Boreham when he unearthed this set of four Georgian silver rococo candlesticks at a local home.

Pamphlet in later royal binding offers thanksgiving for James I’s survival of Gunpowder Plot.

Part of the flying section of the most recent of the Military, Aviation & Transport History sales that are a regular feature of the calendar at Dominic Winter offered a collection of ephemera related to the earlier years of European civil aviation.

Five oil paintings by the German artist Gabriele Münter, long-time companion and partner of Wassily Kandinsky, were very much at the centre of the action on May 8 in Stuttgart when Nagel (33% buyer’s premium) sold Modern and Contemporary art.