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.

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Scottish play opens in NY

24 August 2020

Edition of Macbeth that once belonged to actor Charlton Heston.

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Bonhams sticks to early offering

24 August 2020

While Sotheby’s and Christie’s shifted their main Old Master offerings to the end of July, Bonhams (27.5/25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium) maintained its auction earlier in the month with a sale in New Bond Street on July 7-8.

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Carving much mightier than a mouse

24 August 2020

The Robert Thompson firm produced shire horses, such as this example offered by Lawrences (25% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne on July 23, from the 1960s-90s.

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Politician proves influential in the antiques world

24 August 2020

Edward Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond (1944-2014) – the founder of the Norbrook pharmaceutical group in Northern Ireland – proved just as influential in the world of politics as he was in business.

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Bid Barometer

24 August 2020

Online buying: realised prices at auctions on thesaleroom.com

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Comic effect

24 August 2020

The two ink drawings reproduced here both made substantial sums in a June 27 sale of comic strip artwork held in Paris by Artcurial.

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Sphinx flies in black glass

24 August 2020

The best-known press-moulded models made by John Derbyshire at the Regent Road Flint Glassworks in Salford are the series of animal and figural paperweights made in frosted, flint and coloured glass.

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Centrepiece of attention

24 August 2020

This monumental late 19th century, three-piece presentation silver centrepiece measures 3ft 4in x 20in (1.02m x 51cm) and weighs 17lb 8oz or 255.21oz troy weight.

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Bottle vase supplies a £55,000 Chinese surprise

24 August 2020

Solid selling punctuated by a number of estimate-eclipsing bids made the July 17-18 sale a very welcome return to business for Tennants (20% buyer’s premium).

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Even Old Masters have to wait

24 August 2020

Leading works held back until mixed-category July auctions in a drawn-out sales season.

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Golden oldies: abbey archive and penitential work for preachers

24 August 2020

Sold at £140,000 in the first of two early manuscript sales held by Bloomsbury Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on July 8 was a lot featured in the front page story in ATG No 2447.

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Through the Glasgow looking glass

24 August 2020

Featured in Previews, ATG No 2449, was an amusing illustration of the Vacuum Tube, a proposed new means of mass transport from the pages of the Glasgow Looking Glass, a publication that has come to be widely regarded as the world’s first comic.

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Politicians on the saleroom menu

24 August 2020

Estimated at £100-200 but sold for £2800 at Thomas Watson (25% buyer’s premium) in Darlington on August was a set of four Worcester parian menu holders.

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Five O’Clock means it is time for Belleek

24 August 2020

Around the year 1904, during the Second Period of Belleek production in Fermanagh, Ulster, designer William Harris designed the Five O’Clock pattern.

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Thomson takes pride

24 August 2020

Firsts of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice have made as much as £115,000* at auction.

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'Gandhi' spectacles take £260,000 at Bristol auction

21 August 2020

A pair of spectacles, believed to have once belonged to Gandhi, were hammered down at £260,000 in Bristol (plus 21.6% buyer's premium inc VAT).

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Love letters from Welsh artist and poet David Jones go under the hammer

19 August 2020

Letters written by the painter David Jones (1895-1974) are coming to auction today at Bonhams.

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Rothschild taste adds to record Salisbury total

17 August 2020

A group of works of art from a country home once owned by members of the Rothschild family boosted the latest Woolley & Wallis auction.

Scotland tightens the rules on face coverings at auctions

17 August 2020

The Scottish government has updated its guidance on face coverings.

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Pick of the week: Tiny box with calligraphy from the ‘Little man of Nuremberg’ who excelled at micro masterpieces

17 August 2020

Matthias Buchinger (1674-1740), the so-called ‘Little Man of Nuremberg’, was just 2ft 5in (74cm) tall. Born in Ansbach without legs and having truncated arms without fingers, he nonetheless excelled at many occupations associated with physical dexterity.

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