Auctions

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


Books and works on paper auction calendar, July 8-29, 2025

07 July 2025

Our regular listing of UK and Irish books and works on paper sales

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Spot the goalie competition: toy footballers score at auction

07 July 2025

Footballers were among the very first of the Britains hollowcast lead ‘civilian’ figures.

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Ornithologist provenance trumps pope, cardinal and king owners

07 July 2025

Watercolour can be traced back to nobleman and antiquary who commissioned the illustrator Leonardi

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Lowestoft porcelain collecting focus shifts back to East Anglia

07 July 2025

Two auctions held in the region underline demand for the locally produced ceramics

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Lalique fox mascot with ‘many imperfections’ still takes $27,000 at US auction

07 July 2025

One of the rarest of all of the 31 car mascots made by Lalique from 1925-31 came up for auction at Jeffrey Evans & Associates (25% buyer’s premium) in Mount Crawford, Virginia.

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The hand of Holland

07 July 2025

A collection of ceramics by the Hanley-born pottery painter Arthur Holland (1896 1979) comes for sale at Potteries Auctions in Newcastle-under-Lyme on July 12.

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Fleming signature boosts rare copy of Bond

07 July 2025

The presence of the author’s signature dramatically enhanced the value of a copy of Ian Fleming’s (1908-64) first collection of James Bond short stories 'For Your Eyes Only' offered at an auction at University Archives (25% buyer’s premium).

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Plates pay homage to physic garden

07 July 2025

Chelsea Red Anchor period ‘Hans Sloane’ plates are named with reference to the royal physician, traveller, and natural historian who helped transform the Chelsea Physic Garden into a centre of botanical knowledge during the Enlightenment.

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Woolf takes bidders to the lighthouse

07 July 2025

Swann Auction Galleries (25% buyer’s premium) recorded head-turning sales during its series of New York sales in May.

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Works of Confucius with French royal twist

07 July 2025

A foundation document of Western sinology appeared at Freeman’s Hindman (28% buyer’s premium) in Chicago.

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Interest lodged in Beilby tumblers

07 July 2025

Among the great Beilby discoveries of recent times was the emergence - from two separate sources across 14 years - of six small firing glasses decorated in red, yellow and white enamel with Masonic emblems.

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Liverpool and Limehouse: Maurice Hillis ceramics collection appears at Bonhams

07 July 2025

Ceramics expert’s collection sold at auction included notable pieces made on Merseyside but also a Limehouse cup that proved very popular with bidders

Landseer landscape

Landseer view of a loch without animal life brightens US auction

07 July 2025

British artist famed for The Monarch of the Glen also painted landscapes for his own pleasure

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Essex glass extra

07 July 2025

A biannual addition to Sworders’ calendar is The Glass Sale - the first on October 28.

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William Billingsley: artistic genius and utter rogue

07 July 2025

The great Georgian porcelain decorator and technician William Billingsley (1758-1828) was that recognisable type: artistic genius and downright rogue.

Turner painting

Turner’s earliest exhibited painting makes huge return for eagle-eyed vendor

03 July 2025

A ‘lost’ landscape by JMW Turner (1775-1851), thought to be the first oil painting the artist ever exhibited, sold for £1.5m at Sotheby’s latest Old Master evening sale.

Union Jack flown at Trafalgar

Flag flown at Battle of Trafalgar brings spirited bidding at Christie's

03 July 2025

Still bearing the physical scars of battle, a monumental Union Jack flown by HMS Spartiate at the Battle of Trafalgar led Christie’s Exceptional Sale in London on July 1.

George Gower portrait

‘A handsome bee’: Portrait of Elizabethan dandy makes major sum at Bonhams

02 July 2025

An extraordinary Elizabethan swagger portrait drew dramatic competition at Bonhams’ latest Old Master sale.

Canaletto view of Venice

‘Prime period’ Canaletto makes record £27.5m at Christie’s

02 July 2025

A painting by Canaletto (1697-1768) once owned by the first British prime minister Sir Robert Walpole sold for £27.5m at Christie’s latest Old Master evening sale.

Magdalene Oduno vase

Magdalene Odundo takes British studio pottery to a new high at Sotheby’s auction

02 July 2025

British studio pottery moved into new financial territory at the end of June with the sale of a vase by Dame Magdalene Odundo (b.1950) for £570,000.

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