Auctions

Works by two of the biggest names in art history put in a strong performance at the latest series of Old Master auctions in London.

A rare poster heralding the birth of the British punk movement hammered for a massive £43,000 (plus 24% buyer’s premium) at Omega Auctions on July 1.

A fine example of the Libertas Americana silver medal is estimated to fetch between £50,000-80,000 at Anderson & Garland’s Fine Silver and Objects of Vertu auction in Newcastle on July 22.

ATG’s pick of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com, featuring both the highest prices over-estimate and the top prices paid online

Almost singlehandedly, Sir Laurence Whistler (1912-2000) revived the tradition of British diamond point engraving in the post-war era. His stippled glass goblets were particularly innovative: engraved on both sides of the bowl with views of the English countryside, they create an illusion of perspective.

Our selection of lots from seven upcoming auctions

This 18 x 15in (45 x 38cm) oil portrait of an English springer spaniel is by the great Orientalist Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904).

Rolling to top lot honours in New York at Swann Auction Galleries (25% buyer’s premium) was a 1929 poster for the long defunct automotive brand Pierce-Arrow.

A rarity at a recent Woolley & Wallis (26% buyer’s premium) ceramics and glass sale was a late 18th century Wedgwood basalt intaglio seal, featuring a profile portrait of the notorious American spy Captain Nathan Hale (1755-76) beside the reversed inscription 'My Country!!!'.

Lyon & Turnbull’s (26% buyer’s premium) sale marking the centenary of the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes - the event that later gave Art Deco its name - included a Lalique glass vase that was shown at the event. Quatre Figurines Femmes Formant Soutien, standing 6½in (17cm) high and modelled as a quartet of crouching female nudes supporting an ovoid bowl, was made using the cire perdue (or lost wax) technique.

The notorious Victorian-era erotic magazine 'The Pearl' (subtitled 'Journal of Facetiae and Voluptuous Reading') was published by William Lazenby in London between July 1879 and December 1880.