Auctions

A mid-19th century scrimshaw carved whalebone walking cane sold for a house record of £17,000 (plus 18% buyer’s premium) at East Bristol Auctions on November 9.

Fitzroy Square to the north of central London was a key location in early 20th century British art. Virginia Woolf lived here for several years, a few doors down from Bloomsbury Group artist Duncan Grant, and James Abbott McNeill Whistler also had a studio.

Forum Auctions has expanded its modern and contemporary prints and editions department with two new appointments.

It’s a new name and a new start for a Jedburgh saleroom this autumn.

This archetypal still-life by Cecil Kennedy (1905-97) topped Halls’ (20% buyer’s premium) £300,000 auction on October 18.

A brief letter of 1864 in which Ulysses S Grant agrees to General William T Sherman’s ‘March to the Sea’, a bold plan to destroy Atlanta, then march across Georgia to Savannah or Charleston during the American Civil War, sold for $100,000 (£75,755) on October 19, at Heritage Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) in Dallas.

A collection of tobacco leaf pattern Chinese export porcelain surpassed all expectations to sell for a combined £116,000 at Mallams Cheltenham (20% buyer’s premium).

Sotheby’s From Earth To Fire sale in Bond Street on November 1 was topped by a kunstkammer object with a Rothschild provenance.

The doors have closed on what could be the final edition of the 'Winter Art & Antiques Fair Olympia' after almost three decades.

Bonhams’ Important Design sale in Bond Street on October 25 included this George III mahogany hall settee in the manner of William and John Linnell. Estimated at £8000- 12,000, it sold at £140,000 (plus premium), writes Roland Arkell.

The value of ‘Outsider’ art continues to grow following the dispersal of one of the UK’s largest collections at Anderson & Garland (25% buyer’s premium).

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period October 26-November 1, 2017. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.