Auctioneers

London auctioneer Roseberys is to offer a previously unpublished sketch by John Constable on March 21.

Paul Comolera (1818-97) was one of a series of prominent sculptors who travelled to work in Stoke-on-Trent at a time of political upheaval in France.

Christie’s has two dedicated drawings sales, one devoted to Old Master and 19th century works on March 21, the other to modern works on paper on March 22.

Two opposing views on the big questions facing the trade… This week we ask two auctioneers about the best strategy regarding the positioning of the best lots in a sale.

The Asian art sale at Chiswick confirmed that many of the better pieces of Chinese art are now well beyond the budget of the average western collector.

A likely candidate as highlight of the year for Exeter auction house Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (21% buyer’s premium) will be the £305,000 Hans Coper vase (ATG last week, No 2332).

Two stand-out collections containing Old Master and traditional British works on paper were offered within 24 hours of each other in Oxfordshire.

London saleroom Chiswick Auctions has secured four significant pieces of European and British sculpture not seen on the market for at least a generation.

A number of books on plastic surgery featured in a recent Californian sale including an 1833, first English edition of Johann F Dieffenbach’s Surgical Observations on the Restoration of the Nose.

On a lesser scale than the exceptional £35,000 George II chairs at Holloway’s sale, but standing out from the general run of brown furniture, were other encouraging results across the country in February.

A small soapstone figure of a grinning, reclining Buddha stole the show at Thomas Watson (24% buyer’s premium) of Darlington when it smashed its estimate of £80-120 to sell for £16,500.

Flash from the past at the Diss rooms of TW Gaze (18% buyer’s premium).

Dwarfed as they were by the £440,000 oil of St John the Evangelist (see ATG last week, No 2332), a number of other lots helped to make Holloway’s (20% buyer’s premium) first major sale of the year in Banbury on February 27 an event to remember.

This 23in x 2ft 7in (59 x 80cm) oil on canvas is attributed to Blanche Hoschedé-Monet (1865-1947), the step-daughter and daughter-in-law of Claude Monet.

Sotheby’s has something special to offer for the Paris drawings fest – a single-owner collection formed by a dedicated couple that, say the auctioneers, is the fruit of a life dedicated to a passion for painting and drawings.

A painting by the obscure Welsh artist James Dickson Innes (1887-1914) generated keen bidding at Essex saleroom Stacey’s (24% buyer’s premium) on February 26.

One highlight of a February 20 sale held in Italy was the handsome, armorially bound 1694 first edition of the Swiss born architect Carlo Fontana’s Templum Vaticanum.

‘Rock Star’ of physics and Nobel Prize winner, Richard Feynman, habitually refused to sign copies of his books, telling his editor: “I’m not going to go on TV and I’m not going to sign any books!”