News topics

Mallams will sell a significant Dutch collection of Japanese swords and armour as part of this week’s auction of Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Islamic Art in Cheltenham on October 25-26.

There are 10 auction house participants in AAL this year, the number swollen by an increased international presence. ATG provides a selection of auction preview highlights.

A gift from the founder of the Tata global business empire to the architect who designed his Bombay headquarters, this late 19th century Patek Philippe gold hunter pocket watch was an eyecatcher at Andrew Smith (19% buyer’s premium) at Itchen Stoke on September 12.

A collection of 28 German tinplate clockwork toys all found buyers, generally above estimate, at Bourne End Auctions (15% buyer’s premium) on October 4.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period October 12-18, 2017. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Since the Celtic Tiger’s demise a decade ago and the tailspin that ensued, the Irish art market has evolved into a more cautious and less speculative beast. The latest round of sales held towards the end of September and into October showed steady (if not spectacular) demand, especially for the big, bankable names.

Adam’s mammoth annual Country House Collections auction is designed to cater to those with spacious, preferably period, abodes.

Last month, Britain’s oldest postcard publisher, J Salmon, announced it was closing after almost 140 years of business. Blamed for its demise was the rise of selfies and social media.

Fresh views are being sought over the legal definition of ‘antique’ as police voice gun crime fears.

Dominated by two lots of Chinese porcelain, the September 28-30 sale at Hansons (17.5% buyer’s premium) also included eight Royal Worcester pieces by George Owen (1845-1917) who was inspired by the Orient to produce his trademark reticulated wares.

A dozen years since the first designated Asian art sale in the UK regions, the calendar throngs with specialist events.

A copy of the 1925, Hogarth Press first of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway attracted a great deal of competition in a Cotswold Auction Company (20% buyer’s premium) sale of October 3 and finally sold at £18,000.

Sales held on consecutive days in Edinburgh and London produced two lots that ended up selling for far, far higher than expected sums.

Back at No 1, 60 years after driving teenagers wild and their parents to despair, Bill Haley’s Rock Around the Clock was the star of Pop and Rock Memorabilia sale at Ryedale Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium) in Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, on September 29.

The Emerald Isle was not the only place selling Irish art recently. In London on September 27, Sotheby’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) offered a collection of paintings and personal effects belonging to the family of Irish poet WB Yeats and his brother, artist Jack Butler Yeats.

The celebrated Columbus letter announcing his discovery of a New World, sold for $620,000 (£462,000), was very much the star turn at Bonhams New York (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on September 26 (see ATG No 2313).

A new report into the sale of ivory at UK auctions claims to have found “widespread flouting of the law by many auction houses”.