International

Since 1984, only about 20 paintings by the Turkish artist Osman Hamdi Bey (1842-1910) have come on the auction market and many of his best-known works are in international museums.

Autumn in Munich means different things to different people. For several million visitors the high point of the year is the Oktoberfest. For several thousand the main attraction is two art and antiques fairs that run more or less concurrently.

Munich auction house Quittenbaum is holding a specialist sale of works by René Lalique on November 12. One of the eye-catchers is an 11in (27cm) high table lamp with a bronze base, engraved with peacocks, and the opalescent figure of a naked young woman holding a translucent drape in her outstretched arms.

The most famous book from the first years of printing using moveable type is the Bible produced by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz in the mid-1450s, but in Hamburg on November 25 Ketterer Kunst will be offering another very rare and early Bible.

Emilie Preyer (1849-1930) obviously learnt a lot from her father Johann Wilhelm Preyer, one of the most famous still-life painters in the Düsseldorf School in the late 19th century.

Several records were broken when all 442 lots in the Glynn & Suzanne Crain science-fiction collection sold in a US auction on August 13-14.

Over three days, from October 22-24, Neumeister in Munich is holding a very special sale. Katrin Stoll, the daughter of Rudolf Neumeister (1925-2017), who took over the running of the firm in 2008, and her team will be selling her father’s extensive private collection.

Forty years ago, Dr Jürgen Fischer held his first auction in Heilbronn which was devoted solely to glass. Since then it has been the main, but not exclusive, focus of the house.

A work printed by Johannes Fust and Peter Schöffer will be offered for sale this month in Königstein, as part of Reiss & Sohn’s October 29-31 series of book, map, manuscript, photograph and print sales.

Masterpiece London regulars attend Hong Kong event despite civic unrest

Despite surface dirt and other condition issues, a painting of Naples drew a dramatic bidding competition at a recent auction in Rome.

Pictured here is a Renaissance ring set with five point-cut diamonds – typical of the most opulent jewels produced in 16th century Venice. It forms part of the 35-piece private collection of precious stone dealer Benjamin Zucker that will be offered for sale at Les Enluminures in New York from October 24-November 9.

Though his works are now revered and highly valued in his native land, Edgar Allan Poe spent most of his writing life in debt. There were, however, a few months in the early 1840s when, while working in Philadelphia as an editor and contributor on 'Graham’s Magazine', he enjoyed some short-lived financial success.

'Le vol de pensée' (2010), shown right, is offered for $25,000 at Ink Asia on the stand of Singapore gallery iPreciation. The framed ink-on-paper composition, 2ft 7in x 2ft 2in (79 x 65cm), is by Gao Xingjian, a Chinese-born artist working in France.

It is the practice of one US saleroom to publish what are called ‘starting bids’ rather than an estimate range in its catalogues.

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.

Among the best known of Castellani’s essays in the archaeological revival style is this ‘Etruscan’ gold and glass grapevine pattern necklace.