Auctioneers

When Gloucestershire auctioneers Chorley’s were asked to sell this early Victorian dolls’ house, the consignment came with a caveat.

The portrait of Jane Austen by James Andrews that will appear on the new £10 note in 2017 was offered by Sotheby’s as the star turn of their traditional end-of-year English literature and history sale.

The importance of China as a source of new clients in the international art market has been highlighted in a business intelligence report made available to ATG by Sotheby’s.

The vast collection of the late Dr Gustav Rau provided the top lot of London’s latest series of Old Master auctions as a portrait by Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) took a record £15.2m at Bonhams.

An extremely rare 1700-year-old Roman gold coin discovered by a metal detecting enthusiast in South Wiltshire is expected to fetch up to £30,000 at an auction in London.

Even before the latest Russian art sales in London started this week, the enormous sums of money being spent in this sector became evident when Sotheby’s announced the private sale of their two star lots in advance of their auctions.

The most expensive printed book sold at auction will go on display to the public after the buyer pledged to lend it to libraries across the US before putting it on permanent loan at one of them.

Oliver Barker is to take over responsibility for evening Contemporary art sales for Sotheby’s in New York and London following the departure of Tobias Meyer.

This cased Austro-Hungarian gold and enamel brooch/pendant with a diamond-set monogram and coronet was the gift of Archduke Franz Ferdinand to Mary Marshall, the head housekeeper at Welbeck Abbey, country residence of the Dukes of Portland, from the 1890s until her retirement in 1923.

‘The Pink Star’ – a 59.60-carat oval cut pink diamond – sold for $83m (£55m) at Sotheby’s Geneva on November 13, an auction record for any gemstone or jewel.

When, in 1854, William Holman Hunt decided to leave England to further his religious painting in Syria, John Everett Millais was distraught at the prospect of losing the only friend he entirely trusted.

Cheshire auctioneers Adam Partridge set a house record when this newly discovered copy of the Passover Haggadah written and illuminated by the celebrated 18th century scribe Aaron Wolf Herlingen sold for £210,000.

The entire contents of a West Yorkshire bookshop containing over 30,000 books are to go under the hammer with the bidding opening at just £1.

From November 28 to December 1 Sotheby’s will hold the series of private and public sales they have dubbed ‘Beijing Art Week’. It is the largest event Sotheby’s have held in China.

Spink have decided to give up their retail coins operation in order to focus all efforts on auctions and private treaty sales.

The Stanley Gibbons Group have successfully completed their acquisition of Noble Investments (UK) PLC.

The sale by Christie’s of 24 items of Chinese ceramics from Croydon’s Riesco Collection will go ahead after a legal challenge failed through lack of funds.

An auction record was set at Christie’s last week when Sir Stanley Spencer's (1891-1959) 'Christ Preaching at Cookham Regatta: Conversation Between Punts' sold at £5.3m.

Driving value for shareholders is at the heart of Sotheby’s business review and ongoing strategy, as third-quarter results show a big rise in private treaty sales and a long-awaited boost from their online offer.

Bloomsbury Auctions enjoyed stellar success with their single-owner sale of caricatures, costume and sporting prints, including this image of the king’s mistress.