Auctioneers

The Lockheed Lounge by Australian designer Marc Newson beat its own record as the most expensive work to sell at auction by a living designer when it fetched £2.1m at Phillips in London.

Briefly owned by Louis XVI, who intended them for the Louvre, this 13in (33.5cm) high pair of fine gilt-bronze-mounted kakiemon porcelain and Egyptian porphyry brûle parfums sold for £1.65m at Sotheby’s in London this week.

This Italian baroque bronze depicting ‘Ganymede and the Eagle’ by Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1656-1740) proved the highlight of Lyon & Turnbull’s recent sale in Edinburgh.

A key component of this spring’s series of Islamic auctions was Bonhams’ 30-lot consignment of objects relating to Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore.

This rare Indian coin drew a four-way competition at Wilkes & Curtis’ latest auction.

This large Burmantofts faience plaque sold for £7000 at 1818 Auctions of Milnthorpe, Cumbria. The vendor, who bought it at a car boot sale for £20, was in the room to watch bidding surge way beyond a £400-600 estimate.

The writing desk and chair used by Charles Dickens as he penned a number of his later classics have been bought by a museum based at the author’s former central London home.

Duke’s have moved into their new offices and saleroom in Dorchester.

Former owner of Sotheby’s A. Alfred Taubman – and central figure in the auction price-fixing scandal – has died aged 91.

Dorset auctioneers Cottees ventured into the Modern Art market with their latest sale featuring works by the likes of Paul Nash, Fred Yates and Lawrence Durrell.

Four lots were withdrawn at the eleventh hour by Christie’s last week amid fresh allegations in the media over illicit antiquities at auction.

A career criminal who stole more than £700,000 worth of Fabergé items and sold them to a crack dealer for just £100 has been jailed for 28 months.

A stellar consignment of paintings and antiques from Castle Howard will be offered at Sotheby’s this summer.

A 20-piece Nantgarw dessert service has sold for £20,000 at Campbells of Worthing. It was consigned on behalf of a titled lady.

This 5in (12cm) high pair of Victorian salts in the form of kangaroos made by Bond Street silversmiths Hunt & Roskell sold for £18,000 at Catherine Southon’s latest sale at Farleigh Court Golf Club near East Croydon.

Over 700 lots from West Horsley Place in Surrey, the home of the late Mary Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe, are going under the hammer at Sotheby’s in May.

This c.1690 marquetry cabinet on stand in the manner of the Anglo-Dutch maker Gerrit Jensen (d.1715) sold for £35,000 at the latest sale at Brightwells of Leominster.

Lord Ashcroft is best known for Victoria Crosses as a collector, but the bravery of the Dambusters inspired his latest attempts to buy gallantry awards.

It has the highest-ever estimate placed on a work of art at auction. Predicted to fetch ‘in the region of $140m’, Christie’s are offering Pablo Picasso’s ‘Les femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’)’ in New York on May 11.

Sotheby’s have begun live streaming their sales on eBay’s new auctions platform.