Auctions

Following equivalent sales in November 2024 and May 2025, Dore & Rees (25% buyer’s premium) in Frome was again offering Japanese objects at the end of last year from the wider collection of Asian works of art formed over more than half a century by Eva and Aubrey Sweet.

The primary draw to a sale at Roland Auctions (30% buyer’s premium) was a series of lots benefiting Columbia University.

Demand for Japanese works was first hit by the so-called ‘Lost Decade’ that followed the collapse of the Japanese economy in 1991. However, changes in fashion, taste and legislation have also impacted prices.

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

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

Vase is thought to be from a group that share a provenance to the 1908 Japan-British Exhibition

A recent sale at Whittons (21% buyer’s premium) in Honiton, Devon, included this Meiji or Taisho (1912-26) vase by the Ando Company.

Norfolk auction house TW Gaze has secured permission to sell an Edo period ivory netsuke in the spring.

As with any market, the Matchbox collecting scene has ups and downs but recent results suggest significant market strength right now.

In 1782, the 20-year-old William Jones published a booklet of which he was the sole author, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery.

A selection of whimsical and distinctive Doulton Lambeth stonewares sold across three auctions in December and January

At the time of his death polar explorer and carpenter Jorgen Stubberud (1883-1980) was the last surviving member of Roald Amundsen’s successful 1910-12 expedition to the South Pole.

Our selection of lots from 12 upcoming auctions

This marble sculpture of Napoleon as Caesar is based on a model created by the French neoclassicist Antoine-Denis Chaudet for the Sèvres porcelain manufactory in 1810.

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