Auctions

It must have broken the ice at parties: ‘So, what do you do?’ Reply: ‘I’m a hangman…’

Man Ray’s eye-catching 1938 promotional poster for the London Underground was the toast of Swann Auction Galleries’ recent graphic design auction in New York.

A Sèvres dessert service commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte and known as the ‘Marly Rouge’ service has been sold for a premium-inclusive $1.84m (£1.36m) at Christie’s New York Rockefeller sale.

I could wax lyrical about the full-size Dalek coming up for auction at a Staffordshire auction house Richard Winterton on May 21. But various versions tend to be offered relatively frequently, to be honest. How often do you have the chance to buy a ‘Dalek Playsuit’, though?

The evening sale of 19th and 20th century art from the collection of the David and Peggy Rockefeller collection posted a record for any single-owner auction.

When we wrote about Charles Miller’s latest auction in London one of the star lots was a magnificent Asprey travelling case for the gentleman who needs everything. However, it was missing one particular item which a writing box on offer at the Dominic Winter May 18 sale provides.

Paintings by the renowned Scottish Colourists have been unveiled at the Art Club in Glasgow ahead of a single-owner collection auction next month.

The first part of Christie’s much-anticipated sale of the David and Peggy Rockefeller collection smashed the record for a single-owner auction in New York last night, setting records for Monet, Matisse and Delacroix in the process.

The Duke of Cambridge, aka Prince William, has been in the news recently for obvious reasons but it is the last holder of the title before him who will be in the spotlight at London auction house Sotheby’s this summer.

Collectors can be a hard bunch to predict. When an extensive group comes to auction – one of the best of its type – the buyers’ response may be strong across the board, or it can be seen as a sudden glut on the market and only the top items get picked off.