Auctioneers

The auction process is a key part of the secondary art and antiques market.

Firms of auctioneers usually specialise in a number of fields such as jewellery, ceramics, paintings, Asian art or coins but many also hold general sales where the goods available are not defined by a particular genre and are usually lower in value.

Auctioneers often provide other services such as probate and insurance valuations.

Hilary Finzi

Letter from cellist Jacqueline du Pré among personal possessions coming to auction

25 August 2026

A copy of a handwritten letter in which 21-year-old Jacqueline du Pré tells her mother she has finally decided to dedicate herself to playing the cello is part of a collection of the famed musician’s personal possessions to be auctioned.

Teapot

Crescent mark stirs up bidding on liner teapot

21 August 2026

An Edwardian ‘Regent Plate’ teapot by the Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company of London sold to a UK bidder for £4300 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Adam Partridge in Liverpool.

Chelsea FC 1954-55 league title medal

Chelsea football amateur helped win the first-ever league title

21 August 2026

Remarkably, given Chelsea FC’s modern-day huge spending and multi-year lucrative contracts, two of the squad who helped to win their first-ever league title in 1954-55 were amateurs.

Ptolemaic bronze

Egyptian antiquities emerge in London

21 August 2026

A small collection of Egyptian antiquities comes for sale at Catherine Southon in Chislehurst, south-east London, on September 9.

Portrait miniature of Anne Lefroy

Jane Austen’s House buys portrait miniature of writer’s friend and mentor at auction

21 August 2026

A portrait miniature of Anne Lefroy, a writer who was close friends and a mentor of Jane Austen, has been acquired by Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, Hampshire.

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Necklace gifted from artist Sir David Young Cameron to his wife

21 August 2026

This fine mother of pearl, citrine and chalcedony Arts & Crafts necklace was a gift from the Scottish artist Sir David Young Cameron (1865-1945) to his wife Jeanie on Christmas Day 1911.

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Four Clarice Cliff Age of Jazz classics dance, play and sing into auction action

21 August 2026

The Age of Jazz figures issued in 1930 are among the most desirable of all Clarice Cliff models.

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Welsh ceramics designer Weston Young lived a life full of creativity and chaos

21 August 2026

Archive and avian template for porcelain designs reflect the life of a remarkable 19th century polymath

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Tempting tazze courtesy of maker Ker take £16,000

21 August 2026

Estimated at £10,000-15,000, a pair of Scottish Queen Anne tazze hammered for £16,000 at Dawsons (27.5% buyer’s premium) in Maidenhead, Berkshire on July 23.

John Pye

Obituary: John Pye (1930-2026)

21 August 2026

It is with great sadness John Pye Auctions has announced that John Pye passed away on the evening of Monday, August 10, surrounded by his whole family, at the grand age of 95.

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Calcutta Government House ledger recording weights of visitors sells at a hefty £18,500

21 August 2026

Register bizarrely contains the stats of notables as part of a social ritual

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Watch was sold after princesses took their pick from Queen Charlotte's possessions

21 August 2026

This Regency open-faced pocket watch tells an interesting story.

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Isfahan to Islington: tiles ended up with ‘almost legendary’ dealer Jack Webb

21 August 2026

Safavid examples from the north London dealer's collection find their latest homes after palace demolition

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Zoffoli cast of the Farnese Hercules found in a box under the stairs steps up to £12,000 hammer

21 August 2026

Giacomo Zoffoli (c.1731-85) and his younger brother Giovanni (c.1745-1805) ran a highly successful workshop in Rome, specialising in the bronze casting of reproductions of antique originals.

The Montblanc Meisterstuck No 146 fountain pen

Montblanc fountain pen owned by Singapore’s first prime minister makes seven times estimate

20 August 2026

Singapore’s first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew’s Montblanc fountain pen has recently sold at auction in the country for Sin$355,000 (£204,788) hammer price.

Art dealer James Birch

Dealer James Birch to sell items at Sworders

20 August 2026

Art dealer James Birch was brought up surrounded by art.

Mounted head of a thylacine

‘The discovery of a lifetime’: taxidermy ‘fox head’ turns out to be extinct Tasmanian rarity

18 August 2026

A taxidermy ‘fox head’ bought in an antiques market for just £50 has been described as ‘the discovery of a lifetime’ after fetching £50,000 at an auction near Bristol.

Port Talbot at Night by Valerie Ganz

Cardiff auction indicates increasing American interest in Welsh art

17 August 2026

A notable feature of the latest Welsh sale at Rogers Jones (24% buyer’s premium) in Cardiff was the level of interest from the US.

Lowry print

Lowry print market given a fresh kick with new auction record

14 August 2026

The auction record for a print by LS Lowry has crept higher.

Rowntree’s chocolate box

Silver chocolate box tastes sweet success at auction

14 August 2026

As you can guess by their very nature, souvenir chocolate boxes commissioned by royalty dating from around the early 20th century are not rare.

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