Germany

The 200th auction at specialist clock and watch saleroom Klöter’s (23% buyer’s premium) in Grafenau contained almost 950 timekeepers from all eras.

At Van Ham (27% buyer’s premium) in Cologne on November 12, the auctioneers were overwhelmed with bids when an early 20th century plaster copy of an iconic ancient Egyptian bust came up for sale with a guide of €6000.

Auction house Wendl (21% buyer’s premium) in Rudolstadt found fierce international interest for an early 19th century plate from the manufacture in Sèvres.

Between 1923, when he opened his workshop and 1935, the year he dissolved his company, the French goldsmith Jean Trotain primarily produced vanity cases and cigarette boxes for many of the most prominent designers of the Art Deco era.

The first-ever Leica die-cast camera, dating to 1933-34 and created by the Oskar Barnack, the father of modern 35mm photography, appeared as a landmark lot in the sixth sale from Wetzlar Camera Auctions (21.01% buyer’s premium) - held in the hometown of the manufacturer.

When he was 24, Carl Blechen abandoned his intended profession as a banker and devoted himself to painting.

Star of the show at Auktionhaus Heilbronn’s (21.7% buyer’s premium) latest sale of tinplate toys was a rare three-carriage Märklin train from the Rheinuferbahn, the line from Cologne and Bonn along the banks of the Rhine.

In the early years of the 20th century toy trains made in Germany were also aimed at the British domestic market, eagerly sold by retailers such as Gamages.

Among the attractions at Nagel’s auction of Asian art on December 9 in Stuttgart is a blue and white imperial vase from the Kangxi period (1662-1722).

A rare enamel advertising sign in almost perfect condition was the biggest eye-catcher at the recent dedicated sale held by specialist Pari (20% buyer’s premium) in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg.

An early pocket watch by Abraham Louis Breguet with the low serial number 104 was one of the highlights of a recent watch sale at Cortrie (21% buyer’s premium) in Hamburg.

Like his younger brother Lorenzo, Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1727-1804) learnt his art in the studio of his father Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

For many decades, from the middle of the 16th century, the south German city of Augsburg was, alongside Nuremberg, the leading clockmaking centre in Germany.

From the 14th century onwards, locksmith guilds were well established in major cities throughout Europe.

Mid-17th century piece of furniture bought in a Berlin saleroom in 1928 sells again in the German capital

Depictions of birdcages on Delft tile-pictures or plaques are not exactly common, but they are not nearly as rare as actual ceramic cages from the Dutch manufacture.