International

During the 1860s the South Kensington Museum in London (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) campaigned to have electrotypes made of important historic artefacts.

Erik Weisz (1864-1926) launched his monumental career as the illusionist Harry Houdini in 1891 as a specialist in card tricks.

A late but textbook bronze by Henry Moore (1898-1986) sold for $75,000 (£59,000) at a 145-lot sale held in New York by Auctions at Showplace (25% buyer’s premium).

Gambling today - particularly card playing - is a largely sanitised affair, occurring in luxurious settings under strict observation in town centre casinos.

Jewellery dating to c.1960 was once owned by well-known women in New York and Palm Beach

Initially conceived of and worn by Madame de Montespan, Louis XIV’s most prominent mistress, to conceal her pregnancies, the robe à la française or sack-back dress became a dominant form of fashion in the mid- to late-18th century.

Top Meissen pieces amassed by US buyer attract interest worldwide but many will stay in Germany

A bronze vase by the Parisian goldsmith Lucien Gaillard caused a stir at Dobiaschofsky (25% buyer’s premium) in Bern.

Passed down through generations at the historic Hayes Plantation in Edenton, North Carolina, the only privately held Ratification copy of the American Constitution dating to 1787 sold for a whopping $9m (£6.94m).

Swiss coin auction house Numismatic Genevensis has sold a rare Roman gold coin featuring the portrait of Marcus Junius Brutus for SFr1.5m (£1.34m).

Classic Art Deco designs from a prime period for collectors capture the spirit and style of the period

A small collection of Hester Bateman silver appeared Stateside at Lewis & Grant (25% buyer’s premium) in Newport, Kentucky.