Auctions

Two of the best-selling literary lots in a New York sale were copies of Jane Austen novels.

Lockdown restrictions mean the normal January and February international focus on US auctions and dealer events will be rather different in 2021, but plenty of opportunities are still on offer to buy art and antiques

The collection of Hester Diamond, a New York art dealer, interior designer and art collector, is one of the designated single-owner offerings in Sotheby’s Masters Week series.

A selection of period and vintage jewellery lots for sale in January, February and March.

Two auctions devoted to drawings and works on paper, one single-owner, one mixed-owner, form part of Sotheby’s Master Week sales, both staged on January 27.

Mounted in an autograph book that was compiled from 1937 onwards by Miss Joyce Cartmell, a sketch of Christopher Robin was a highlight of a Yorkshire sale.

There were, inevitably, a few copies of Charles Dickens’ much-loved tale, 'A Christmas Carol', on offer at auction as the big day approached.

Reappearing in the same saleroom after a six-year interval, a landscape by Edmund Morison Wimperis (1835-1900) attracted attention at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) of Shrewsbury.

Christie’s Old Master and British drawings sale will take place as an online auction from January 14-28.

Cottone Auctions is holding a sale of Antiques and Design in Geneseo, New York, on January 21.

This Royal Doulton Art Nouveau twin-handled vase will be offered in the January 26-27 Collectors Auction at Lion and Unicorn of Hollywood, Florida.

The flagship event of Sotheby’s Masters Week sale series is the January 28 Master Paintings and Sculpture auction. Its highlight entries are Botticelli’s 'Portrait of a young man holding a roundel' (estimate in excess of $80m) and Rembrandt’s 'Abraham and the Angels' guided at $20m-30m.

Carl Moll (1861-1945) was one of the founding members of the Vienna Secession movement. On February 23 in its sale of European Art and Old Masters, Freeman’s of Philadelphia will offer a painting by him that has been in the same family since it was acquired in Germany in the early 1920s.

The 650-lot auction at Quinn’s Auction Galleries in Falls Church, Virginia, on January 30 features items from several local properties.

Covid-19 has played havoc with the jewellery fairs and auction calendar but it has done little to dull the appetite for quality antique and vintage pieces.

Christie’s is selling the collection of Mr and Mrs John Gutfreund from their 5th Avenue New York apartment in a two-day live auction on January 26-27 and a series of online sales.

On February 27 Morphy Auctions of Denver, Pennsylvania, will offer the mechanical bank collection of Bob and Judy Brady, assembled over a period of more than 40 years.

This Mamluk-style pottery basin decorated with a band of kufic script is in fact the creation of ‘father of art pottery’ Frenchman Theodore Deck (1823-91).

Memorabilia relating to members of a pioneering elite group of female pilots who flew in the Second World War soared over estimates at two auction houses.

This pair of Wiener Werkstӓtte hand-hammered silver vases from c.1918, designed by Josef Hoffmann, will feature in the early 20th century Design sale held by Rago of Lambertville, New Jersey on January 21.