Auctions

At Ivoire Nantes’ (24% buyer’s premium inc VAT) auction in the French city on September 29, this 2ft 1in x 3ft (64 x 91cm) signed pastel by Louise Abbemé (1858-1927), showing the actress Sarah Bernhardt seated, sold for €8200 (£7455).

An early 19th century campaign chest designed to be broken down into two parts for easier travel has been hailed as “exceptional” by the specialist dealer who bought it at an Essex auction.

Motor cars became more affordable and reliable particularly in the 1920s-30s, making day trips increasingly popular.

A pair of late oil landscapes by Silva Porto (1850-93), a pioneer of naturalism in Portugal whose works appear rarely outside his home country, drew multiple bids at Chichester saleroom Henry Adams (20% buyer’s premium).

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a Sylvia Gosse street scene.

At TW Gaze (18% buyer’s premium) in Diss, Norfolk, on August 12 this early 20th century Louis Vuitton wardrobe trunk, no 796731, sold for £4200 against an estimate of £1800-2500.

Irish artist James Humbert Craig’s (1877-1944) passion for the outdoors and landscape painting took him frequently to Donegal, Connemara and the glens of Antrim.

What could be more British than a policeman in traditional garb standing on Tower Bridge?

Highly influential three-volume set on maths takes a record £90,000 sum in London

Christie’s has changed its buyer’s premium levels this autumn – creating clear air between its fee structure and those used at Sotheby’s and Bonhams.

Special Auction Services is expanding into the West Midlands and has taken over the premises of toy and collectables specialist Aston’s Auctioneers & Valuers in Dudley.

Paintings by leading British sporting artists went under the hammer for the first time in over 100 years at Cheffins in Cambridge on October 1.

This 21½in (55cm) high Qianlong famille rose vase and stand sold for €3.7m (£3.3m) at the Drouot in Paris last month.

After 60 years in an attic, an extremely rare battery-operated Machine Man robot with its original box rolled into the spotlight at Morphy in Denver, Pennsylvania.

It was not in the best of conditions, but an unusual cartographic lot in an August 6 sale at Thomson Roddick (17.5% buyer’s premium) of Carlisle sold at £420.