Auctioneers

“I am not a number, I am a free man,” was the cry of Patrick McGoohan in TV series The Prisoner. The important number at the Charterhouse auction house on February 12 is £20,000-25,000 - the estimate for a 1963 Lotus Super Seven S2, the model made famous by appearing in that 1960s cult favourite show.

A woman from the village of Hindhead in Surrey made a spectacular return on a £2 charity shop purchase when her small Chinese censer was knocked down at auction for £21,000.

Here are five of ATG's ‘best of the best’ picks of the week from 2016 – all remarkable both for their price and the stories they tell.

Australian auctioneers Mossgreen set an AUS$2m record for a single-owner sale of Asian Art sold down-under when they offered part of Raphy Star’s collection in Sydney earlier this month.

A Chinese hardstone imperial seal set a record at Drouot in Paris on when Pierre Bergé & Associés sold this impressively carved 4in (10.5cm) square specimen, inscribed 'Qianlong Yu Bi Zhi Bao', for a hammer price of €17.5m (£14.58m).

An archive of over 400 letters and drawings by Sir William Orpen (1878-1931) has been acquired by the National Gallery of Ireland in a deal brokered by Dublin auctioneers Whyte’s.

The market for Lucie Rie ceramics continues to thrive. A new auction high for the doyenne of the British studio pottery movement was posted by Phillips in New York this month– the fourth occasion a record has been set in just two years.

The Advertising Standards Authority has unveiled new guidance for auctioneers following an investigation into the way auction houses display their commission rates.

UK regional auctioneers have defended credit card fees charged to buyers amid pressure from consumer campaign groups to slash charges.

English wines are steadily gaining a reputation for decent quality, with sparkling styles in particular starting to challenge Champagne as an alternative patriotic option. Back in 1889, it was Welsh whisky throwing the gauntlet down to Scotland in the hope of supping long-running success.

Julian Dawson is retiring from Gorringe's and held his last auction yesterday at the Lewes auction firm.

Pete Waterman, Neil Young, Roger Daltrey and Peter Snow all do it. Frank Sinatra and Peter Sellers did it. Rod Stewart apparently hires extra hotel rooms on tour to indulge in it. ‘It’ being the innocent and highly popular pastime of model railways.

A group of three Doccia porcelain dishes from c.1740-45 sold for £70,000 at a stellar sale at Cheffins in Cambridge.

A small Castilian mediaeval alabaster statue of Saint Cecilia playing a portable organ led a strong selection of traditional art and antiques in the Paris pre-Christmas auctions at Hotel Drouot.

A temporary export bar has been placed on a rare Wedgwood vase in the hope £482,500 can be raised to keep it in the UK.

Christie’s Guillaume Cerutti has been promoted to become the auctioneer’s chief executive, replacing Patricia Barbizet who will become vice chairman.

An Enigma cipher machine made a world-record price last week when it was hammered down for $380,000 (£301,379).

Dallas based Heritage Auctions is suing a Christie’s-owned firm in the US over alleged data theft.