Auctioneers

While Christie’s had by far the top-selling Old Master drawing of the latest series (the £7.5m Leonardo da Vinci drawing of the head of a bear - see ATG No 2501), a good number of other works on paper generated better competition although sold for understandably lower prices.

Edition marked the first time a person of African descent had work published

A small fragment of a significant airship comes up for auction at Spicers in Old Goole, East Yorkshire, to mark a tragic centenary.

Illustrated with 76 hand-coloured flags, a 1794 Signal Book for the Ships of the Line sold to an online bidder for £11,000 in a Shrewsbury sale.

The Galloways were a distinguished Victorian military family, as a number of items sold at Bishop & Miller (22% buyer’s premium) revealed.

Cheffins’ auction in Cambridge on August 26 includes a silver presentation salver given to Air Vice Marshal James Edgar ‘Johnnie’ Johnson (1915-2001), the highest-scoring Western Allied pilot against the Luftwaffe and the RAF’s officially recognised top-scoring fighter pilot of the Second World War.

Despite a disappointing selling rate, dealer’s collection included notable results

Nagel (25% buyer’s premium) in Stuttgart underestimated the international interest for a 16th century painting of Christ Carrying the Cross.

An intriguing condition report that mentions ‘water and smoke damage’ gives a clue as to what happened to this battered copy of the Encyclopedia Britannia sold in a Charles Miller (24% buyer’s premium) auction.

After a difficult period because of the pandemic, the latest round of Old Master sales in London returned to some kind of normality.

A new high for a British army Victoria Cross as 'exceptional’ example also sets a house record for a medal at Dix Noonan Webb

This first-hand document recording one of the most significant naval events of the Second World War was offered at Catherine Southon (20% buyer’s premium) in Surrey this summer.

As his nickname suggests, Wing Commander Sidney Baker (1918-2007) enjoyed the finer things in life.

Depicting Bacchus and Ariadne riding a golden chariot drawn by leopards, a monumental Mortlake tapestry led a small but significant textiles section at Dreweatts.

Over many years, Helga and Walther Lauffs collected American and European art from the 1960s-70s.

'Doppelspindel-Rot', a monumental oil on canvas from 1967 by Ernst Wilhelm Nay (1902-68), topped the latest evening sale of Modern and Contemporary art at Ketterer Kunst (25% buyer’s premium) in Munich.

The sale of a Military Cross group of honours at Woolley & Wallis (25/12% buyer’s premium) of Salisbury marked what is believed to be the first time that the medals of a British prime minister have been offered at auction.

The near ubiquitous ‘Dead Man’s Penny’ of the First World War becomes a rarity should the recipient be female.

A Texas sale generated six-figure sums for two very different lots.

Letters written by Nelson to his wife make obvious his esteem for Captain Sir William Hoste KCB (1780-1828)