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The market for European ‘decorative arts’ – the wealth of late 19th and early 20th century ceramics, metalwork and design – has been in a constant state of flux since it first entered mainstream collecting in the late 1960s. As tastes evolve, so does pricing.

Penzance auction house David Lay (18% buyer’s premium) is no stranger to the great Chinese boom but in July it staged Cornwall’s first dedicated Asian sale.

Original lithographs by Joan Miró and Marc Chagall star at Eames Fine Art’s exhibition 'Behind the Mirror'. Held at the Bermondsey galley from August 8-September 1, the show is named for the magazine, Derrière le Miroir, the leading modern art publication in 20th century Paris along with Verve.

One of the offshoots of the Bauhaus was the ceramic factory in Velten-Vordamm, just north of Berlin. Much of the stoneware designed by the ceramic artists at the school was executed there, several examples of which came up for sale at Quittenbaum.

Patchworks stitched together by successive generations in poor Japanese communities offered in Kensington exhibition

Our weekly selection from salerooms.

Shown below is a spread from a 120pp manuscript collection of Scottish songs with accompanying musical notation, on paper watermarked 1799, that sold at £600 in a Thomson Roddick (17.5% buyer’s premium) sale.

Despite some minor loss to the head of 'When We Were Very Young', published in 1924 and a first edition of what are now collectively known as the ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ books, overall the set pictured below is an exceptionally well-preserved one.

It’s with a rather heavy heart that Mike Collins, director of specialist market operator Sherman & Waterman, has announced that he is giving up running the Friday antiques market at Bermondsey.

MADAM – I’m sure I’m not the first to write about this but could the inscription on the mount of the picture attributed to Glyn Philpot (Art Market, ATG No 2399) have read or was meant to be C Phillott?

On Friday, August 2, Michael Bloomstein of Brighton was paying the following for bulk scrap against a gold fix of: $1436.05 / €1301.28 / £1184.17

It may be a well-rehearsed refrain, but the Old Master market is much more subject to vagaries of supply than demand. Almost without fail, when high-quality fresh material is offered, bidders will come. Just getting it in the first place is the hard part.

Our weekly selection from salerooms.

A ‘photo gun’ inspired by an African explorer has been snapped up for £138,000 (plus 17.5% buyer’s premium) at Special Auction Services, setting a house record for the Newbury saleroom, writes Tom Derbyshire.

A round-up of news and moves from dealers and galleries.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

In its active years, some 1200 students passed through the Bauhaus school. It marked the starting point of many an illustrious career as numerous members of the teaching staff went on to become the most important artists of their era.

Paris may have largely shut its saleroom doors for the summer months but beyond the capital, particularly around the French coast, auctions still take place throughout July and August.

MADAM – I have just read the article on the painting by Richard Lin sold recently in the McCartneys Ludlow auction for £84,000 (Art Market, ATG No 2401).