Auctioneers

Choice specimens of the rarest English coins are reaching new financial territory.

Economic stimulus packages are not a new phenomenon. Georg Siegmund Stobwasser (1717-76) was among the many craftsmen attracted to the Brunswick by the special privileges granted them in the city by Duke Karl I (1713-80) in the wake of the Seven Years’ War.

Christo (1935-2020) is famous for the series of monumental projects to wrap landmarks around the world undertaken with his wife and collaborator Jeanne-Claude (1935-2008).

A Beatles-themed sale held by Cato Crane (28% buyer’s premium) in Liverpool last month included architectural souvenirs from St Peter’s Church in Woolton.

A notable of feature of the Post-War and Contemporary art market is the wide variety of mediums employed.

The works of French painter André Masson (1896-1987) are regarded as a bridge between Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism.

Launched in 1956, La Biennale des Antiquaires, now an annual event known as La Biennale Paris, is one of the world’s longest-established and best-known art and antiques fairs.

The allure of well-priced, market-fresh chattels from a blue-blood country estate can pique the interest of the most world-weary auctioneer or antiques dealer.

Inscribed copies of the works of Dodie Smith were among the attractions of a summer sale held by Stride & Son (18% buyer’s premium) of Chichester.

Interest from overseas bidders appears to be lifting the market for Banksy (b.1974) prints to a higher level.

Coinex, the traditional autumn focus for the numismatic world, is cancelled this year.

A Military Cross group awarded to a soldier who carried a fallen comrade through fierce gunfire in Iraq sold at £36,000 (plus 20% buyer ’s premium) in Macclesfield on September 11.

This 9in (23cm) Qing blue and white porcelain bowl decorated in underglaze blue with squirrels in fruiting bears a Qianlong (1736-95) six-character seal mark and is probably of the period.

A work on paper by Czech artist Mikulas Medek (1926- 1971) drew strong competition at Chiswick Auctions’ (25% buyer’s premium) latest British & European Fine Art sale.

Plenty of Dickensian lots were on offer in a sale held by US saleroom PBA Galleries (20/15% buyer’s premium).

The auction record for modern Guyanese artist Aubrey Williams (1926-1990) was broken three times at auctions in the south of England this summer.

North Yorkshire saleroom Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) has a solid track-record with the artist Joash Woodrow (1927-2006). Eight of his top 10 auction prices are held by the Leyburn saleroom (source: Artprice by Artmarket).

Stand-out lot in a travel, map and natural history sale held by Sotheby’s (25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium) was a grand and elaborately cased set of the monumental 'Description de l’Egypte' of 1809-22.

An auction record for Grayson Perry’s (b.1960) 'Britain is Best', a limited edition coloured embroidery depicting five loyalists from East Belfast, was set at Phillips (25% buyer’s premium) in London on September 10.