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Mossgreen is only the latest in a list of auctioneers that have gone under owing money to its core customers – consignors.

The American Civil War was fought during a period of rapid technical development in weaponry. While the conventional and reliable Springfield percussion rifle remained the mainstay of the infantry, many innovative firearms saw service for the first (and sometimes the last) time.

A pastel portrait of a fashionable young Georgian woman in an ostrich feather hat and blue coat with her dog topped the picture section at Lincolnshire saleroom Golding Young & Mawer (20% buyer’s premium).

Detailed and dark, the prints of Gerald Brockhurst (1890-1978) offer striking portraits of both the famous and fictional from the first half of the 20th century.

Focus on lots coming up in sales at four auction houses, two from the UK and two from the US.

An 1894 pencil drawing of a street in Antwerp by Walter Frederick Osborne (1859-1903) was among the last contents offered at auction from West Horsley Place, the Grade I-listed mansion in Surrey owned by historian and broadcaster Bamber Gascoigne.

The American West was the theme of a 43-lot, single-owner collection offered as part of the January 17 sale held by Sotheby’s New York.

Russian America and polar exploration were the twin themes of a Christie’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) sale that offered highlights from the Martin Greene Library.

Bargueño desks, designed to hold documents and money, originated in Renaissance Spain and remained popular through the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.

Asian art sales are always unpredictable, more often than not in a positive sense.

The latest recent arms and armour sales on both sides of the Atlantic serves only to reinforce the impression that pistols remain a huge favourite with collectors in this field.

When the US Government invited arms manufacturers to tender designs for a new standard-issue pistol for the US Army in the early 1900s the winner was Colt, with a system devised by John Moses Browning.

John Mitchell Fine Art’s 17th 'Peaks & Glaciers' exhibition takes place at its Mayfair space until April 19.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period ???? -????, 2017. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.