Auctions

News and previews of art and antiques sold at auctions throughout the UK and overseas, from multi-million-pound blockbusters to affordable collectables.


Books and works on paper auction calendar, February 5-27, 2025

03 February 2025

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

Gold medal from 1904 Olympics

Olympic gold medal from 1904 races to record price

31 January 2025

A gold medal from the 1904 Olympics set its own first when it fetched $436,297 (£351,000) plus 25% premium at RR Auction's timed sale in the US – a record for any 1904 medal.

Anglo Saxon panel

UK buyer sought for export-blocked Anglo Saxon gold panel

30 January 2025

A rare Anglo-Saxon gold and garnet panel has been blocked from export from the UK after it was bought at auction at Spink in September last year.

Jan Weenix painting

Dutch Old Master brings overseas bidding and triples estimate in Gloucestershire

30 January 2025

International interest came to Bourton-On-The-Water in Gloucestershire this month when a Dutch Old Master emerged from a family collection at Tayler & Fletcher (23.5% buyer’s premium).

Dudley Davidson collection

‘Unrivalled’ collection of saltglaze stonewares to be sold at BBR without reserve

29 January 2025

A very fine collection of saltglaze stonewares is coming for sale at BBR Auctions in Elsecar, North Yorkshire.

22Jan 18

Matchbox wreck truck towed away by determined bidder for hefty £11,000 hammer price

29 January 2025

Mass-produced toys need to have something special to rise above the norm when it comes to auction value. A Matchbox vehicle offered at Teesside saleroom Vectis certainly fitted that bill.

Street Life in London book

Early photographs on life in Victorian London to appear at auction

28 January 2025

Street Life in London was one of the first examples of photojournalism, captured by Scottish photographer John Thomson and writer Adolphe Smith in 1877

Bob Dylan Tambourine Man Lyrics

Bob Dylan's Mr Tambourine Man lyrics sell at auction

28 January 2025

Bob Dylan’s draft lyrics for 1965 hit 'Mr Tambourine Man' sold for $400,000 (£320,800) plus 27% buyer’s premium at Julien’s Auctions in Nashville, US, earlier this month.

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Pick of the Week: Souvenir seized from George IV coronation feast

27 January 2025

Even when set against the standards of royal pageantry, the crowning of George IV at Westminster Abbey on July 19, 1821, was a lavish affair.

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Welby porcelain collection up for sale at Woolley & Wallis

27 January 2025

On February 6 Woolley & Wallis is selling the Sir Bruno Welby collection of European porcelain. Estimates across 350 lots cover an affordable range from £50 to £2500 with the group as a whole expected to fetch around £100,000.

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Compass used at Battle of Trafalgar is among five lots to watch

27 January 2025

With estimates from £500, here are five previews of items coming up at auction this week

God Save the Queen lp

Withdrawn Sex Pistols record rears its head at Merseyside sale

27 January 2025

A rare A&M Records copy of the Sex Pistols’ 'God Save the Queen' is to appear at Omega Auctions in Merseyside.

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Bid Barometer: issue 2678

27 January 2025

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

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Scarce Singer painting emerges at auction

27 January 2025

Until the 1990s, Ilona Singer (1905-44) belonged to a forgotten generation of artists whose lives were cut short by the Nazis.

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Assembled with care: the sumptuous Zilkha collection comes to auction

27 January 2025

Sale of Kunstkammer items amassed by the founder of Mothercare will bring English and Continental silver and furniture in the princely tradition to the rostrum

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Schlemmer figure hits a new high

27 January 2025

A plaster figure by the Bauhaus artist Oskar Schlemmer (1888-1943) set a new auction record for one of his sculptures when it was sold by Lempertz (26/20% buyer’s premium) in Cologne.

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Sir Kyffin ends the year on a high

27 January 2025

In terms of Modern British pictures sold around the country over the last year, a number of highlights came late in the day.

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Great Bible ignores condition issues to bring a £7200 hammer price

27 January 2025

The estimate of £1000-1500 reflected the condition of an Elizabethan ‘Great Bible’ offered at Cotswold firm Wotton Auction Rooms (20% buyer’s premium).

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Tinplate toys take impressive five-figure prices

27 January 2025

Well-funded bidders joined the fray at the recent sale of tinplate toys held by Hohenstaufen (24.5% buyer’s premium) in Göppingen. The two top lots were very different but brought equally impressive results.

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Cubist design with a difference

27 January 2025

The Leicester engineer Robert Crawford Johnson (1882-1937) registered the design for the cube teapot in 1916.

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