Auctioneers

Christie’s contemporary art chief Brett Gorvy is leaving the firm to become an art advisor.

An imposing brass alloy figure of Canda Vajrapani set an auction record for a Tibetan sculpture when it was knocked down at HK$42.5m (£4.34m) at Bonhams Hong Kong.

Star Wars, Action Man and plastic soldiers are just three of the toy collectable fields growing in demand as buyers get all nostalgic about their childhoods. Another biggie in this market is Lego.

Christie’s is officially turning 250 years old today.

Sotheby’s has bought scientific research specialist Orion Analytical to "help to make the art market a safer place".

Some good old-fashioned saleroom drama ensued at Ewbank’s of Send in Surrey on December 1 when a tribal art necklace estimated at £60-100 sold to a buyer from Continental Europe at £99,000 (plus 22.5% premium).

Arts & Crafts furniture from the collection of a former boss of brewing giant Mitchell & Butler will be offered at The Cotswold Auction Company this month.

An archive of family drawings by Sir William Rothenstein (1872-1945) forms part of Mallams’ December 8 sale in Oxford.

Rarely seen photographs of the wedding that caused a constitutional crisis and rocked the British monarchy have been sold at £9200.

One of the most famous firearms in French literary history has sold for €360,000 (£305,605) at Christie’s in Paris.

A pink silk jacket once worn by Queen Victoria was among the lots that led Ewbank’s recent textile auction to almost double its pre-sale expectations.

This French porcelain hot water jug, or ‘pot à eau’ was made at the Vincennes factory in 1754, probably for the Dauphine Maria Josepha. The mother of King Louis XVI, who was guillotined during the French Revolution, she was an important patron of Vincennes.

It might not be a Bag for Life but this plastic bag has set a collector back £240.

Antiques Roadshow expert and militaria specialist Graham Lay has passed away. A well-known personality on the show for more than 25 years, his death was announced by the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.

A rare and recently rediscovered Irish Commonwealth/Charles II silver porringer sold today for £25,000 – five times its estimate – at Sworders’ auction in Essex.

A musical manuscript at the centre of a row over whether it was handwritten by Ludwig van Beethoven or a copyist has failed to sell at an auction at Sotheby’s.

Besides the danger of a dog bite, delivering the mail is not generally seen as a perilous business. However, as a presentation sword up at auction in London shows, on occasion it can be a matter of life or death.

A small and previously unrecorded portrait of Lord Nelson sold for £14,000 at Charles Miller’s latest Maritime and Scientific sale in West Kensington.

An auction of the designer wardrobe of a socialite at Peter Wilson’s Nantwich saleroom attracted more than 100 people and raised £27,000.