Auctions

Two works from Francis Bacon’s (1909-1992) famous ‘Popes’ series met with contrasting fates at Christie’s latest post-war and contemporary art evening auction.

Sotheby’s latest evening sale of Contemporary art in London raised a total of £50.3m including premium with a landscape by David Hockney (b.1937) among the lots drawing bidders.

He was famous for film roles such as Dracula in Hammer Horror movies, Scaramanga in The Man With The Golden Gun, Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man, Saruman in Lord of the Rings and Count Dooku in Star Wars. But Sir Christopher Lee’s role in the Second World War is also highlighted in a collection of his awards on offer at Spink on November 1.

Once believed by other inhabitants of the region to be people who hid in the forests so as to avoid being put to work or taken as slaves, orang-utans undertook a couple of significant auction outings as part of Sotheby's sale of the travel library of John and Suzanne Bonham.

Bonhams has changed the price thresholds for its buyer’s premium. The new rates in the UK exactly mirror Christie’s charges but are slightly different to Sotheby’s adjusted fees structure which comes into force next month.

An auction of contemporary and post-war British art will be held in Sudbury this month to raise funds to establish a national centre for the artist Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88).

Baldwin’s of St James’s set a new record for a British five pounds piece when a “good, extremely fine” example of the 1839 ‘Una and the Lion’ five pounds coin took £340,000.

A former bank building in Bishop Auckland in County Durham will reopen as a museum this month housing a collection of art made by former miners in the area.

Sotheby’s posted a record price for any piece of Chinese ceramics sold at auction after a rare Ru guanyao brush washer drew a 20 minute bidding battle in Hong Kong.

The personal collections of film stars Vivien Leigh and Audrey Hepburn were both ‘white glove’ events in London last week.

Art consultancy and valuation firm Gurr Johns has bought auction firms Dreweatts and Bloomsbury from Stanley Gibbons for £1.25m.