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The SS Normandie was both the apogee and the nadir of the Art Deco movement.

Our selection of eight lots from upcoming UK auctions.

Album of watercolours by mysterious but talented Indian artist takes £90,000 at Scottish saleroom

The practice of presenting gold and enamel swords and freedom boxes, already popular in England in the 18th century, became more widespread during the Napoleonic Wars.

Olympia Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) reported some significant overseas interest at its latest Fine Paintings, Works on Paper & Sculpture auction with almost a third of buyers from outside the UK.

International collectors invested considerable sums in the Expressionist paintings on offer at German sales over the last few weeks.

It is 20 years ago that the auction record for Clarice Cliff was sent tumbling when an 18in (46cm) May Avenue charger sold for £34,000 at Christie’s South Kensington on May 14, 2003. Those were heady days indeed.

Art Deco had a profound influence on all categories – not just art, sculpture or luxury furnishings but also on the design of more utilitarian items.

Last month Sotheby’s announced it would be using the Dutch auction format – whereby the price starts high and is reduced until a buyer is found – for some sales of digital art, sparking a flurry of online media coverage. Its new Gen Art Program will start with an auction on July 26.

The latest Old Master auctions in London posted the highest total for a series in this category in the capital since 2017.

Tribal Art London (TAL) is to take place in person this autumn thanks to the organisers of The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair stepping in with a venue.

Although the mid-week sales at US auction house Stair Galleries typically focus on affordable property, there are some exceptions.

Exhibitors taking part in London Art Week attracted visits from major museums including The Getty, British Museum, Museum of London, Museum of the Home, National Portrait Gallery and major US museums from San Francisco to Houston and Chicago to Baltimore.

An amazing penknife proved a cut above in a sale from the David Hayden-Wright collection of antique knives offered at west London saleroom Olympia Auctions.

A new auction record for netsuke – over three times the previous high – has been set in France.