International

A Panticapaeum gold stater, struck in present day Crimea c.350-300BC, has regained the rank of the world’s most expensive classical coin.

‘Sherlockian scholar’ is the term Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) uses to describe Robert Hess.

Known for his countless self-portraits, second only in number to Rembrandt, and a distinctive style often with somewhat sinister undertones, Max Beckmann also created some surprising works.

Berlin is obviously a good place to sell paintings by the German artist Georg Scholz (1890-1945), one of the leading representatives of Neue Sachlichkeit (new objectivity).

Like many of his colleagues, the Hungarian painter Mihály Munkácsy (1844-1900) visited the major art centres of his day, such as Munich and Düsseldorf, before finally settling in Paris in 1871.

Wooden examples of the art of netsuke are now the focus of collectors following ivory restrictions.

The signature Fortin à Paris on the dial of this 21in (53cm) high marble and gilt bronze clock shows that it was made by a member of one of the most prominent Parisian clockmaker dynasties of the 18th century.

Top lot of Dorotheum’s (25/20.84% buyer’s premium) Viennese sale of 19th century paintings on May 2 lived up to its expectations.

Van Ham of Cologne is offering a work by the German Expressionist Otto Mueller on the occasion of its 500th sale: the painting Frau und Knabe (Woman and Boy) from 1922.

A previously undocumented painting, bought from an English dealer by a European collector in 1995, shines at Vienna sale.

Judging by the overall totals, the latest Modern and Contemporary art auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips in New York were something of a bump back to reality after the last two sales series posted the highest grossing totals on record.

An Egyptian polychrome sarcophagus panel from the Late Dynastic Period was one of the highlight sales at the recent TEFAF New York.

This late untitled drawing by Arshile Gorky (1904-48) in pencil and crayon on paper was the highlight of a sale of Modern and Contemporary paintings held by Digard (25/20/14% buyer’s premium) on March 28 at Drouot in Paris.

Two of Jane Austen’s works, both from the same Wyoming collector’s estate, were stand-out lots in a May 11 sale held in Chicago.

One of the top-priced lots in a recent sale held by CRN Auctions (22% buyer’s premium) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 23 was this work on paper by Alexander Calder (1898-1976).

A classic pale pastel toned still-life by Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964) is one of the headline lots in a two-day sale of Modern and Contemporary Art at Farsettiarte in Prato in Italy on May 26-27.

It is a rare event when a painting by Howard Hodgkin (1932-2017) turns up at a German auction, but on June 5, Van Ham can offer his 1996 painting Miami in its Modern and Contemporary sale.