Christie's

A locket given to George IV’s true love was hammered down at £280,000 yesterday at Christie’s, more than doubling its high estimate.

It was known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice but life in the Italian city state could be turbulent. The maritime republic spanned the 8th to 18th centuries though opportunities to amass power and wealth were challenged by outside threats, particularly from the Ottoman Empire. Among a group of documents on offer at Christie’s is one which recalls the city’s naval endeavours - a commission for the pirate-hunter Benedetto Pesaro.

Francesco Guardi’s (1712-93) 'The Rialto Bridge with the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi' led Christie’s latest evening sale of Old Masters in London. It was knocked down at £23.25m following a competition between two phone bidders.

A long-running appeal to raise nearly half a million pounds to return a Wedgwood’s First Day’s vase to Staffordshire has triumphed.

Max Beckmann’s terrifying image of hell, representing the horror of the Nazi regime in Germany, has sold at Christie’s for a record-breaking £32m hammer price to dealer Larry Gagosian.

A bronze family group by Henry Moore (1898-1986) led Christie’s evening sale of Modern British & Irish art in London last night, selling at £3.3m to an Asian collector.

What could be the most valuable personal art collection ever to come to auction will be offered at Christie’s New York next spring.

James 'Jim' Collingridge, one of Christie’s South Kensington’s first auctioneers and mentor to several senior auctioneer figures, has passed away at the age of 86.

Princess Diana’s stepmother, Chatelaine of Althorp, Dame Barbara Cartland’s daughter, or Acid Raine. The late Countess Spencer had a number of labels and, according to the Telegraph, she “seldom left anyone indifferent”.