Auctioneers

One of the earliest surviving incandescent light bulbs, made by the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) in the 1870s, sold for £7500 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Bonhams’ sale titled Instruments of Science and Technology.

What still feels to many like the opening month of a new season got off to an excellent start with some serious, if occasionally unexpected, five-figure bids at four major provincial salerooms.

In the past, pictures by talented but obscure female artists were given short shrift on the secondary market. Now all that is changing.

Two contrasting marine scenes, encapsulating the unpredictable nature of the sea, were offered at a recent sale at Mitchells (20% buyer’s premium) of Cockermouth in Cumbria.

Three modestly valued works in regional sales, all sold below £1000 including a watercolour of a North African market scene by Hercules Brabazon Brabazon.

Gracing the catalogue cover of Whyte’s Irish & International Art auction in Dublin on October 1 is this work by Séan Keating (1889-1977).

Two early examples of Indo- Portuguese furniture sold for five-figure sums at auction this month.

Portraiture was not the preferred genre of the Valencian artist Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923), but early in his career he recognised its value as a reliable source of income and persisted with it throughout his lifetime.

Proof of a burgeoning market, a series of stellar results for British studio pottery were posted at the ‘Made in Britain’ sale conducted by Sotheby’s on Bond Street.

For most enthusiasts of Airfix’s plastic construction kits, it was the company’s dramatic box artwork that caught the eye when choosing the next model to make.

Bigger could mean better at the UK’s largest coin fair this year. Celebrating its 40th year, Coinex 2018 is in a larger venue and has more exhibitors.

The Old Masters section of Doyle’s auction in New York on October 31 will include a portrait by the French 19th century artist Eugène Delacroix.

Figurative art was the other big seller in early September, led by the waxwork of Medardo Rosso’s sculpture Bambina Ridente (see last week’s News pages) which topped a successful week of sales at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) when it more than doubled the top estimate at £180,000.

This linocut comes from one of just 30 copies of Rigby Graham’s 'The Casquets… the most dangerous Channel Islands' issued by the Brewhouse Press in 1972.

Founder remembered as anniversary sale sheds light on evolution of the Narnia Chronicles

A standout portrait entry to Essex saleroom Sworders (23% buyer’s premium) was a 4ft 2in x 3ft 4in (1.26 x 1.01m) oil on canvas portrait attributed to Francis Cotes (1726-70).

Containing an original watercolour, one of just a dozen de luxe copies of the 1931, Harrap edition of Izaak Walton’s 'Compleat Angler', illustrated by Arthur Rackham, made a record equalling £10,000 at Gildings (18/12% buyer’s premium) of Market Harborough.

Following on from last week’s 19th and 20th century literature round-up, this second selection focuses on earlier works sold in London and New York during the summer.