Auctions

Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (1780-1854) was clockmaker to George III and also to The Prince Regent, later George IV.

Works coming to auction from artists’ estates give a never-seen-before quality and personal attraction

While few will welcome the news that Bonhams – the last of the major auction houses to hold regular sales Japanese works of art in London – is moving its department to Paris (ATG No 2690), there will be opportunities for UK salerooms that continue to plough this selective but occasionally fruitful furrow.

Although cautiously catalogued, the Library Collection sale at Adam’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Dublin on April 29 included three pieces of Roman statuary that had been in an Irish private collection since around 1940.

Letters found in family archive include first-hand accounts from St Helena in 1821

The toy manufacturer Märklin did not just produce models for private use.

Sheet of various figures and body parts in red and white chalk set an auction record for Primaticcio

A Citroën 2CV toy car is not quite as glamorous as a Lotus Esprit, even when the full-size version helps to save James Bond in an epic chase.

ATG’s pick of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com, featuring both the highest prices over-estimate and the top prices paid online

Our regular listing of UK and Irish books and works on paper sales

Matthew Boulton’s inventory of stock in 1782 lists “1 small figure of Minerva”, according to Nicholas Goodison’s Ormolu: the Work of Matthew Boulton, 1974.

Our selection of lots from five upcoming auctions

Silverware with connections to key figures from the famous French firm of Puiforcat proved to be a major component in a sale of items from a Parisian family collection held by Beaussant Lefèvre (28% buyer’s premium).

An untitled abstract by Gillian Ayres (1930-2018) was among the works attracting interest from the collection of Simon and Jennifer Murray at Dore & Rees (25% buyer’s premium) in Somerset.