Auctions

The American magician William Ellsworth Robinson not only adopted the stage name of Chung Ling Soo but stayed in character as a Chinese magician on and off stage.

Sir Oswald Birley (1880-1952) is among the artists most represented in UK public collections. Art UK records 173 works in national museums and institutions, National Trust properties and local museums.

The name of the Finnish writer and illustrator Tove Jansson (1914-2001) may not be as familiar in the UK as that of many other creators of children’s favourites.

Trudpert Schneider (1804-99), a Freiburg carpenter whose first brush with photography was to repair a broken box camera, is today deemed one of Germany’s most important daguerreotypists.

Two of Ian Fleming’s books were among the highlights of a general book and manuscript sale held on April 18 at a saleroom probably better known on these pages for its specialist sales in the field of magic and conjuring.

A Chinese blue and white vase achieved a hammer price of over £3m at an online auction that closed in Singapore last week.

More previously unrecorded porcelain attributed to the John Bartlam factory of Cain Hoy, South Carolina, has emerged for sale in the UK.

For centuries, China was a rewarding market for European clock and watchmakers who created extravagant timepieces for their Oriental clientele.

Among the interesting lots sold at Scheublein (26% buyer’s premium), in Munich on April 24 (a sale originally scheduled for March 20), was a 'Still Life with Basket of Fruit and Flowers'.

A selection of stand-out lots coming up at auction

Two consignments of works directly from artists' estates added a distinctive flavour to Chiswick Auctions’ (25% buyer’s premium) latest Modern & Post-War British Art sale.