North America

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.

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).

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.

Sculptor Naum Kongiser (1904-84) created the propaganda figure Radio for the Village for the State Porcelain Manufactory in 1927.

The semi-precious stones adorning the hilts and scabbards of many of the best Ottoman swords held talismanic significance.

A Gorham Martelé covered silver tankard hammered for $7500 (£5875) at Grogan & Company (25% buyer’s premium) in Boston at its September 26 Silver and Decorative Arts sale. It was estimated at $2000-3000.

A familiar and important piece of Scottish silver appeared at Waddington’s (25/22% buyer’s premium) auction in Toronto on November 7.

The two leading US trade associations have won a legal challenge against a law that said dealers in New York could not display antiques made from more than 20% elephant ivory.

When it was last sold 30 years ago, Chinese export figures of this rare type were thought to depict a Dutch lady - perhaps the wife of a governor of Batavia.

Maryland auction offers a fascinating collection of Chinese porcelain intended for foreign markets

A single-owner collection of Antiquities & Oddities offered without reserve by Shapiro Auctions 30/29/18.9% buyer’s premium) in Mamaroneck, New York included several fine South American objects made in the Spanish colonial era.