Auctions

Pictured below are three lots of Oceanic art that proved to be in much demand during UK sales held in August.

A rare Rolex ‘Milsub’ – an enhanced version of the brand’s classic diving watch the Submariner – set a new record for a watch at Fellows last week with a hammer price of £140,000 (£165,200 including premium).

This 12in (39cm) Portobello pottery plaque piece, c.1820, is a rare piece but one known in a number of different colour variations.

This sailor’s walking cane below displays many elements of the scrimshander’s art: a whalebone shaft carved with spiral fluting, collars inlaid with shell from the hawksbill turtle and a handle carved as a dove from the tooth of a sperm whale.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from September 1-16, 2020.

Included in the African section of the African and Oceanic Art and Antiquities auction to be held by Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh on September 16, this 10in (25cm) high Lega mask is from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This beaded hide Sioux Elk Dreamers’ Society tobacco bag is one of the pieces of beadwork from the Robert Jerich collection that is included in Cowan’s September 18 American Indian Art auction in Cincinnati.

A number of single-owner collections feature in Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury’s September 22 Tribal Art and Antiquities auction. These include the Michael G Johnson collection which makes up over 100 lots in the North American section.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period August 20-26, 2020. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Once the second city in the kingdom, Norwich had its own silver assay office during three periods between 1565 and 1702.

This 7in (18cm) Satsuma 'koro' is modelled in the form of a 'yoroi bitsu' (Samurai armour storage box) with the 'kabuto' (traditional Japanese helmet) forming the lid.

This Minton majolica figure of a 12in (30cm) dancing bear playing a drum kit carries a patent lozenge for May 1876.

This 17th century teak, ebony and ivory standing cabinet or contador is a type associated with the Indo-Portuguese settlement in Goa.

One of the highest prices in the large 650-plus lot American Indian and Ethnographic Arts auction held by Skinner (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) in Massachusetts was the $4000 (£3075) paid against a $400-600 guide for a trio of Eskimo baskets woven from baleen.

A pair of Chinese export black lacquer chinoiserie decorated cabinets on stands came for sale at Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium) in Wisborough Green, West Sussex on August 11 with a blue-chip provenance.

Extensively interleaved with scholarly notes and running to over 700pp, a Japanese and English Dictionary compiled by JC Hepburn was a notable rarity in a Cornish summer sale.