Auctions

News and previews of art and antiques sold at auctions throughout the UK and overseas, from multi-million-pound blockbusters to affordable collectables.


Francesco Guardi

News In Brief

18 March 2017

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days.

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Survey of the scientific sale scene

18 March 2017

Tennants’ (20/18.5/17.5% buyer’s premium) sale of Scientific and Musical Instruments, Cameras and Tools on February 17 included a rare brass altazimuth theodolite, signed by London instrument makers Heath and Wing. Estimated at just £300-400, it sold in its original box together with wooden tripod at £10,000.

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Minorca port scenes buck today’s market

18 March 2017

Owing to today’s minimalist taste, Continental views of 19th century ports are not an easy sell. This pair of canvases proved otherwise when they topped Thomson Roddick’s (15% buyer’s premium) March 18 sale in Carlisle, Cumbria.

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‘Sundial’ distorts view of the world

18 March 2017

Highly unusual, not to say confusing, but mathematically correct is the view of the world as seen in this untitled map of 1640 that made £4500 in a Dominic Winter (19.5% buyer’s premium) sale of March 1.

Henry Moore maquette

Henry Moore maquette comes to auction from collection of the dean of American art patrons

17 March 2017

Two fresh-to-the-market examples of Modern British sculpture are coming up for sale in New York state.

John Marston’s The Scourge of Villanie

Banned and then burned – two early English satires bloom again at Bonhams’ sale

17 March 2017

Bound together some 200 years ago, rare copies of two Elizabethan satires that were first condemned and then burned will be among the books offered by Bonhams at the Glyn Cywarch sale later this month.

Chinese archaic bronze

Fujita Museum sale makes over £200m and lifts Christie’s Asian art week to record level

16 March 2017

Christie’s sale of works of art of Art from the Fujita Museum of Art met with a glowing reception in New York on March 15.

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Meccano sets build up interest in Somerset auction

16 March 2017

'The youth of today are stuck inside playing computer games getting square eyes' is a familiar refrain from the old and often grumpy, such as, er, me. However, in the not-so-distant past it was Lego keeping kids fixated indoors and before that, the marvels of Meccano.

Princess Diana letters

Princess Diana letters on honeymoon and birth of son head to auction in Gloucestershire

15 March 2017

Letters from the late Princess Diana surfaced at auction earlier this year in Cambridge and now another set is being offered in Gloucestershire.

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James Bond 'Dr No' film posters produce auction double 0 heaven

15 March 2017

Latest auction results in the film poster market show that for the right designs with a licence to thrill the buyers will follow.

Francesca Ellis of  JP Humbert

Northamptonshire auctioneer appoints new co-director

15 March 2017

Whittlebury saleroom JP Humbert have appointed Francesca Ellis as co-director.

Churchill

Czech émigrés' studio sculptures come to auction at Mallams in Oxford

14 March 2017

Works from the studio of sculptors Franta Belsky and Irena Sedlecka are coming to auction at Mallams in Oxford.

Sotheby's contemporary art auctions

Currency weakness helps London auction fortnight to record figures

14 March 2017

The latest series of Impressionist & Modern and Contemporary art auctions in London showed a dramatic improvement on the equivalent sales last year and the overall premium-inclusive total represented a record in terms of sterling.

Xuande dish at Sotheby's

New York snowstorm hits ‘Asia Week’ auction calendar

13 March 2017

A snowstorm expected to hit New York over the next 24 hours has led to changes to ‘Asia Week’ auctions scheduled for this week.

Christie’s South Kensington

Art and antiques industry reacts to impending closure of Christie’s South Kensington

13 March 2017

The news of the impending closure of Christie’s South Kensington may not have come as a great surprise but, without doubt, its demise seems like an ‘end of an era’ moment.

Rapier

Barn find unmoved for 30 years emerges for Lord Harlech sale at Bonhams

11 March 2017

A 1936 Lagonda Rapier barn find will be among the lots at the Bonhams sale of the new Lord Harlech’s family collection.

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Private deals are thriving in times of tension

11 March 2017

Latest TEFAF market report says uncertainty drives confidentiality

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Prince in the tower Edward V coin found in field comes to auction

10 March 2017

King Richard III is the Marmite Monarch. You love him or you hate him. On one hand he is regarded as a monster, on the other as misunderstood and unfairly maligned.

Amelia

Doomed female pilot's Leica camera appears at McTear's auction

10 March 2017

A camera belonging to ill-fated US aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart is among the lots going under the hammer at McTear’s in Glasgow this month.

Moai kavakava figure at auction

Tourist souvenir or tribal art rarity? Swiss art dealer’s Easter Island figure sells for £95,000 at Berkshire auction

09 March 2017

There was some good old fashioned saleroom drama at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions in Newbury yesterday when a moai kavakava style figure, estimated to bring just £400-600, sold at £95,000. The buyer in Berkshire was from Australia.

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