Europe

After a tough economic year, several French auction firms have now released their sales figures for 2012.

Auction Team Breker in Cologne have sold a technical rarity of the highest order – one of the six known working models of the first computer ever made by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, the founders of Apple.

The traditional pre-Christmas auctions in Dublin often see some of the best Irish art of the year on the market and, despite the sector still being tough going, a good number of works by leading names appeared this time round.

Executed c.1929, this abstract composition by Mainie Jellett (1897-1944) drew significant interest when it appeared at de Veres’ sale in Dublin on November 27.

The highly distinctive works on paper by William Conor (1884-1968) documenting working-class life in Ulster come up pretty regularly at auction, mainly because there are simply a lot of them around.

This portrait of Sinead O’Connor as a young girl was consigned to Whyte’s sale on November 26 by the singer herself.

Leica cameras proved one of the must-have auction prizes in recent sales with record prices at Westlicht in Vienna and Bonhams Hong Kong.

The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam has acquired an important collection of letters, photos and documents relating to Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank.

Egyptian artefacts are one of the bullish sectors in the antiquities market and this has been reflected in sale results on both sides of the Channel last month.

The late November antiquities double bill at Drouot held by Pierre Bergé et Associés kicks off on the 29th with a library of works on Egyptology.

The specialist Old Master fair ‘Paris Tableau’ set up last year in the French capital is about to embark on its second staging.

In the face of strong opposition from the art world, the French government appeared to back down last week from a move to include works of art valued at over €50,000 in annual assessments for wealth tax.

Rare early paintings often come to major centres such as London, Paris and New York but later this month it will be the turn of Marseille in the South of France where the Maison de Ventes Leclere will offer a chance to purchase a fragment of an Italian primitive from the early Renaissance.

Malcolm Hay, the dealer controversially convicted by an Athens court of trading in illegally excavated antiquities, has learnt that the hearing of the appeal he lodged in March 2011 has been delayed until February 1, 2013 owing to disruption caused by strikes in Greece.

The appearance of a Modernist carpet at a sale in Germany next month writes a further chapter in the tale of two rugs, signed ‘Francis Bacon’, that have been withdrawn from sale in the UK twice in three years.

The franchise agreement under which Bloomsbury Auctions Italia has operated in Rome since September 2011 has ceased.

In what has been described as “the largest single transaction to ever occur in the field of decorative arts”, California Bay Area auctioneers Michaan’s have purchased, for sale, an unparalleled collection of Tiffany and other Art Nouveau works of art.

Irish auctioneers Mealy’s have a 36-year history of collaborating with Christie’s to sell major collections and, although the crème de la crème may have been offered in London in May, their recent sale of the treasures at Mount Congreve, Co Waterford was far from a matter of crumbs from a rich man’s table.

A Prussian ducat from 1803 is considered one of the greatest rarities among 19th century German coins.

A 22in (57cm) long laminated wooden ‘Leaf Dish’ designed by the Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala (1915-85), estimated at €1200-1500, turned out to be the top lot of the summer Design sale held by Munich’s Quittenbaum.