Auctioneers

A three-quarters-length bust of a bare-chested Antinous, the favourite of Hadrian, appears on this medallic coin minted in Mantinea, Arcadia, c.134AD.

The furniture and works of art sale at Crewkerne auction house Lawrences (25% buyer’ premium) on January 21 included a set of George II walnut seating furniture with an excellent provenance.

Ecclesiastic buildings can be the source of good secular antiques: typically items bequeathed in the distant past by parishioners for church use.

Swann Galleries is holding a sale of Books and Autographs in New York on February 17.

The 150th Victoria Cross ever awarded sold for £180,000 at London auction house Spink on July 29.

The sale at Sovereign Rarities on September 21 included this Charles I (1625-49), silver pattern unite (20 shillings) dated 1630.

The fourth and final part of the North Yorkshire Moors collection of coins and medals sold by Dix Noonan Webb included some exceptional examples from the Interregnum.

The Palais Royale built for Cardinal Richelieu in 1629 had a variety of uses over the years but in the 18th and early 19th century was rebuilt as a place for public recreation and social gathering.

US auction house Skinner has appointed Leah Kingman as director of the 20th century design department.

Spink offered 52 coins from one of the ‘lost’ parcels of Alderman Horace Hird (1899-1973), former president of the Yorkshire Numismatic Society.

This ‘cameo’ version of the 1847 gothic crown is one of the finest available for commerce.

A 1926 London Transport poster with artwork by Montague Birrell Black (1889-1964) imagining what the capital may look 100 years into the future was offered at Ewbank’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Woking on January 21.

The record-shattering sum of $41m paid for an extremely rare, 1787 first printing of the US Constitution at Sotheby’s New York last November was covered in ATG No 2520, but a sale held by the same auction house a few days later, on November 23, also contained rare items of American historical interest.

This early Georgian walnut open armchair was one of the highlights of the sale of Old Master paintings, English and Continental furniture, silver and decorative arts held by Doyle (26/21/15% buyer’s premium) in New York on January 26.

This Irish bog oak canoe or trough was among the quirkier – and best-performing – lots in Bonhams’ (27.5/25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) ‘without reserve’ sale of the Jim Lennon collection in Edinburgh on January 26.

Nelson held his protégé Captain Sir William Hoste KCB (1780-1828) in high esteem.

The first tranche from a large collection of Irish banknotes assembled by the late Gus Mac Amhlaigh of Dublin sold by DNW on November 25 included red and orange Bank of Ireland £20 ‘specimen’ notes from the famous Ploughman series.

If it’s a real mix of topics, genres and ages you are after, this auction had everything

Dix Noonan Webb set a record for a British army Victoria Cross on June 23.

The finest-known example of a New England shilling sold for £220,000 at Morton & Eden in London on November 26.