Sotheby's

October is one of two periods each year when New York salerooms put the spotlight on photographs. Here ATG selects highlights ranging from mid-19th century daguerreotypes to works from the 21st century...

Christie’s seven sales dominated the New York Asian art series. With a couple of sales still to go across the weekend, the firm’s running total was close to $35m, more than twice the aggregate of its competitors.

Bid to £45,000 at Sotheby’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) was an extensively revised and corrected autograph draft of what was to become Charles Dickens’ tale of ‘Mrs Gamp with the Strolling Players’.

A small white zip-up bag used by Neil Armstrong to bring samples of lunar material back to earth following the historic Apollo 11 moon landing of 1969 was the star lot in a Space Exploration sale held by Sotheby’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on July 20.

A lavishly produced 'Souvenir...' book published in 1899 to benefit a Charing Cross Hospital bazaar held at the Royal Albert Hall included contributions from distinguished writers, painters and composers, along with their photographic portraits.

Christie’s has reacted quickly to rival Sotheby’s announcement of a new premium structure (ATG No 2306) by increasing its own buyer’s premium.

Last offered at auction at Sotheby’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) in 1971, a pair of EH Shepard’s original ink drawings for Winnie-the-Pooh returned to their rooms to sell at £55,000.

Sotheby’s has upped the ante in the digital auction space by scrapping buyer’s premium for online-only sales.

A Song dynasty brush washer, one of the few examples of Ru guanyao court ware still in private hands, will be offered by Sotheby’s Hong Kong with an estimate in excess of HK$100m on October 3.

It’s late August and the art market continues its summer slumber.