Auctioneers

The library of William O’Brien, an Irish-born QC and High Court judge in the Victorian era, sold for a premium-inclusive £2.8m at Sotheby’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on June 7.

A very rare ebonised sycamore and canvas side chair designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Kate Cranston’s home sold for $470,000 (£362,000) at Sotheby’s New York last week.

The new president of The National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers (NAVA) has called for all auctioneers to be qualified and regulated.

Among the pieces of Fabergé bringing competition at last week’s Russian art sales in London was this c.1909-13 silver vodka cup offered at Sotheby’s.

Lots Road Auctions is to relocate to a purpose-built new saleroom as part of a property development on the Chelsea street.

Surrey auctioneers Ewbank’s is to sell the stock-in-trade of furniture restorers Arlington Conservation on June 23.

Lots Road Auctions has been in the same premises since it was founded by owner Roger Ross in 1979. The establishment is well known among the Chelsea set and was even the star of the Channel Four show The Auction House. But changes are afoot. Here Nick Carter, manager and senior auctioneer, discusses the firm’s future with ATG.

A small vibrant work by Jack Butler Yeats (1871-1957) from the collection of Irish art assembled by the late businesswoman Gillian Bowler topped Adam’s sale on May 31.

Recent Old Master paintings in Vienna and Cologne have yielded some predicted but also unexpected results including a high price for a work by a German better known for his poems and plays than his paintings.

In recent years, Bonhams has uncovered several previously unrecorded English Golden Age clocks and at the sale of Fine Clocks on June 29 it will be presenting a recently discovered longcase clock by London maker John Fromanteel.