Auctioneers

The most highly regarded piece of Chinese porcelain offered during the recent round of Asian sales was seen in Edinburgh where Lyon & Turnbull sold this blue and white dragon charger for £355,000.

A painting of a well-known location in Manchester by L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) led the latest sale of Modern & Post-War British Art at Sotheby’s.

Despite the unhelpful backdrop of Ukraine politics and the threat of economic sanctions, the Russian art market continued on its mercurial journey in the first week of June. The characteristic patchy selling rates for the ‘Londongrad’ sales were accompanied by moments of remarkable competition.

The First World War shattered not just lives but also perceptions of the ‘natural order’ of things across Europe and how it was ruled.

Was this the ring of the Tiger of Mysore, taken from his body when he was killed in battle?

It may not look much today, but this camera was the latest cutting-edge piece of technology when it was first released for sale in 1899 – and it helped lay the foundations for the future of film and moving pictures. Then it retailed for £30, now it has just sold at auction in Surrey by Lawrences of Bletchingley for £7800.

Following the implosion of auction house Ivey-Selkirk earlier this year, more than one firm is hoping to plug the void left by the troubled St Louis institution.

This portrait by Sir Anthony van Dyck, a spectacular discovery for the BBC’s ‘Antiques Roadshow’, will carry an estimate of £300,000-500,000 at Christie’s Old Master sale on July 8.

A newly established firm of numismatic auctioneers, Wilkes & Curtis, are aiming to break into the marketplace by offering a fixed buyer’s premium of 10%.

This Imperial Qianlong white jade ‘hinge-fitting’ achieved the highest price of the round of Asian sales held this month in London and the regions, selling for £410,000 at Bonhams New Bond Street.

For a cast-iron sign that spring has brought a resurgence in the garden look to the results of the recent biannual sale of garden design at Summers Place Auctions where Coalbrookdale seats were back in the limelight.

Bonhams have pledged to use their new Hong Kong headquarters to expand the territory’s traditional sales programme throughout the year.

An instantly recognisable William Russell Flint (1880-1969) watercolour drew a strenuous competition at Mallams in Oxford last week.

A rare late-18th century George Adams Junior combined planetarium and tellurian that sold at Bonhams includes a reference to the ‘Georgian Planet’ engraved on the top plate. Today that planet is better known as Uranus, which was first observed by William Herschel on March 13, 1781, although he initially recorded it as a comet.

Most fine art sales at Exeter saleroom Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood feature multiple works by the irrepressible Robert Lenkiewicz (1941-2002) and their latest event was no different.

James II large silver chinoiserie footed salver, the circular top flat-chased with a continuous border of four Oriental figures, two long-legged birds and further birds in flight among palm trees and other foliage, beneath sunrays emerging from clouds and further clouds. London 1688 by Benjamin Yate (maker`s mark YT), diameter approx 131/2in (34.3cm). Estimate £30,000-50,000. Sold for £30,000 hammer at Tooveys of Washington, West Sussex, May 21, 2014.

6in (15cm) long Chinese white jade carving of a Buddhist lion dog, Qianlong 1736-95, with a paper label for Queen Amelia of Portugal Collection. Estimate £30,000-50,000. Sold for £110,000 hammer at Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury, May 21, 2014

There was no slowing down in the Contemporary art market as the latest sales in New York posted a record for any auction series.

Mossgreen will be offering one of the most talked about items of the year at their forthcoming sale in Melbourne. The auction will feature this elaborately carved and inlaid cradle made for Princess Helena, Queen Victoria’s fifth child.

Leonard Joel of Melbourne will be marking the 50th anniversary of the Beatles arriving to tour Australia by offering a collection of photographs taken of the group in Adelaide.