Auctions

With the first hardback Philosopher’s Stone at stratospheric sums, the soft cover value is rising steadily

A Victorian full-sized lay figure owned by the sculptor James Butler (1931-2022) sold for £4000 at the Hansons (26.5% buyer’s premium) saleroom in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

Karl & Faber’s (27% buyer’s premium) latest auction of Old Master prints in Munich was its most successful sale of this type for many decades, achieving several new German records.

A handful of determined bidders were enamoured of a painted wood panel, originally catalogued as 18th or 19th century, which was in the sale held by Scheublein (27% buyer’s premium) in Munich.

Extensive collection also came with impressive records of purchase such as original dealer invoices

The Rare & Important Travel Posters sale at Swann Galleries (32/27/17% buyer’s premium) of New York on November 25 included a classic view of Piccadilly Circus, located across the Atlantic in London.

Over his career, the Flemish artist Hendrick van Balen (1573-1632) collaborated with a number of other artists, not least Rubens. Another was Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625).

This 18th century hardwood tea caddy, boldly carved in imitation of gnarled rootwood and mounted in white metal, is an Anglo-Chinese production, made for export in Canton (modern-day Guangzhou) c.1780.

Many single-owner collections appeared in the pages of ATG this year, usually as they came up at auction. The silver collection of the late Michael Baggott and the art, books and memorabilia collection of the late Barry Humphries were among the stand-out sales.

Dehua blanc de chine figures of Guanyin – the goddess of compassion, protector of mariners and bringer of sons – often carry the impressed double gourd seal of the great 16th or 17th century ceramicist He Chaozong.

The latest sale at Alastair Gibson Auctions in Kent was led by a stellar example of Meiji or Taisho era cloisonné: a pair of imperial presentation vases by Nagoya master Hattori Tadasaburo.

While the market for post-war Whitefriars has waxed and waned in the past three decades, in 2025 several very active collectors have driven saleroom prices forward once again. It has been a strong year for the Geoffrey Baxter Textured range in particular.

Pocket watches owned by Horatio Nelson, Thomas Hardy and Cuthbert Collingwood and consulted throughout the Battle of Trafalgar were sold together as a single lot in London on December 9.

The Distinguished Conduct Medal awarded to Private Samuel Vickery of the Coldstream Guards who kept Florence Nightingale safe during the Crimean War is to be offered at Noonans on January 14.

With works by female artists now having a much higher profile among Old Masters than in the past it was not surprising to see a painting by the famous French portraitist Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) among the best-sellers in a September sale of works from a country house in Brittany.

Before the August 8 Historical Manuscripts sale at Heritage Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Dallas, specialist Sandra Palomino fielded many questions about one lot in particular.