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.
Rackham’s artistic vision of Wagner musical work
24 November 2025'The Three Norns Winding the Rope of Fate' portrays Erda’s daughters beneath Brünnhilde’s rock and was created as an illustration by Arthur Rackham for a 1911 edition of Richard Wagner’s 'Siegfried & the Twilight of the Gods'.
Big prices paid in transfer market: a Wimpy, Letraset and Star Wars poster promotion
24 November 2025Extensive themed sale brings a shock result for Star Wars posters promoting a tie-in with burger chain
Lynch images of a rural idyll impress in Dorset sale
24 November 2025A group of works by James Lynch (b.1956) brought good competition in the regions after emerging at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) of Dorchester, Dorset.
A Seamaster fit for a civilian
24 November 2025The 165.024 reference Omega Seamaster 300 was one of the most robust and practical dive watches of the Sixties.
John Minton fishing scenes net strong four-figure prices
24 November 2025Towards the end of the 1940s and in the early 1950s, the artist John Minton (1917-57) painted a series of works in Cornwall, producing pictures mostly featuring boats, fishermen and harbours.
Courvoisier portrait watches produced for Ottoman market
24 November 2025Philippe Auguste Courvoisier (1803-73), a member of the famed Courvoisier family of Swiss watchmakers, specialised in the production of watches with portraits of 19th century royalty, such as Queen Victoria, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte or, in the case of watches sold in London and Stuttgart, the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid I.
Jean Rousseau’s £62,000 tulip bud
24 November 2025Jean Rousseau (1606-84) came from a renowned watchmaking family that settled in Geneva, the cradle for prosecuted French Protestants in the 1630s.
News in brief including Cook Islands pole clubs discovery
24 November 2025A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including a discovery of Cook Islands pole clubs previously rescued from a garden
French automaton tea drinker rises from a jar to take a sip
24 November 2025This 19th century French ‘tea drinker’ automaton emerged as part of a single-owner sale at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) of Dorchester.
Early example of Explorer black dial boosts demand
24 November 2025The Rolex reference 6150, often dubbed the ‘Pre-Explorer’, was introduced in 1953 and famously tested by various Everest mountaineering expeditions over the coming years, including the first official summit by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953.
Elkanah Settle’s heartfelt, personal tribute to (insert name here)
24 November 2025‘Settle bindings’ are the name given to a small number of surviving books published between c.1700-23 by Elkanah Settle (1648-1724).
Tractor with bidder pulling power
24 November 2025This 1949-51 Massey Ferguson demonstration model by Mills Models of Sheffield comprises Ferguson TE-20 tractor with clockwork mechanism, two different ploughs, rubber wheels and Ferguson badge to front of the grill.
Wheel progress in price terms
24 November 2025Nine years after taking a premium-inclusive £1375 as part of the The Robert White Collection sale at Bonhams, this Pastilles Valda shop display sales automaton came back to the same auction house in London.
Tethered model cars take a turn on racetrack and rostrum
24 November 2025Tether car racing, which began in 1930s California, sounds a strange concept to modern ears but is in fact a hobby still going strong worldwide*.
‘The one that got away’ from dolls' house expert Vivien Greene
24 November 2025Some of the earliest dolls’ houses are also referred to as baby houses, although they were more like detailed miniature houses and it is said that the aim was not play but to reflect riches.
Jewellery sales bring good cheer ahead of festive season
22 November 2025Auctions with half an eye on the gift-giving season proliferate throughout late November and early December.
Nelson, Hardy and Collingwood watches 'worn at the Battle of Trafalgar' emerge at Spink auction
21 November 2025Pocket watches owned by Horatio Nelson, Thomas Hardy and Cuthbert Collingwood and consulted throughout the Battle of Trafalgar, are coming for sale next month.
Auction of earliest-known calculator suspended after Paris court ruling
21 November 2025A Paris court has delayed the sale of the earliest-known calculator.
Rare piece of boxing history packs a punch at eight times estimate
20 November 2025A rare visual record of a ‘legendary’ boxing match that took place in Gretna Green in 1816 drew a strong contest itself at an auction in North Yorkshire
International hires and expansion – the latest updates from auction houses and advisory firms
20 November 2025Our latest selection of moves, appointments and industry developments in the world of art and antiques
- John Rolfe Auctions
- Gold, Silver & Watches
- 07 Mar 2026
- Hampson Auctions
- Classic & Performance Cars
- 08 Mar 2026
- Hawley's Auctioneers
- Antiques & Fine Art
- 08 Mar 2026
- Lots Road
- Furniture, Paintings, Art, Carpets & Rugs
- 08 Mar 2026
- Bolton Auction Rooms
- Jewellery, Watches, Glass, Ceramics & Collectables
- 09 Mar 2026
- Burstow & Hewett
- Toys
- 09 Mar 2026
News
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- 1stdibs
- Advertising Standards Authority
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- Alfred Taubman
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