Print Edition

Eight examples of beautiful bindings feature in a selection from recent auctions held across the world.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from January 29-February 9, 2019.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Dealers spend a lot of time and thought on the catalogues they bring out to showcase stock – here is the latest in our occasional series looking at recent examples covering a range of art and antiques

A two-in-one purchase, this Simon and Halbig bisque-headed doll comes with its own teddy bear in a 550-lot online-only auction of toys and past playthings.

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including the Bodleian Libraries' purchase of a rare 15th century French Gothic coffer.

Pistols remain one of the most popular of all categories among gun collectors and the winter sales in London proved a bumper season for handguns, from the earliest wheel-locks of the late 16th century to the semi-automatics which ushered in the modern age at the end of the 19th century.

This rare 1870s Zulu shield or Isihlangu below sold for £1650 at the C&T (20% buyer’s premium) auction of the Mick Woodfield collection of Zulu and other tribal weapons in Tunbridge Wells on January 9.

This 3ft 2in (97cm) high Roman marble statue of draped female form with a lyre, representing the Greek muse Euterpe, dates from the 2nd-3rd century AD.

The antiques-rich town of Honiton in Devon is famed for its bobbin lacemaking since the 16th century.

Fees charged by auctioneers, from buyer’s premium to condition reports, have been a hot topic in the pages of ATG and on social media recently. One reader contacted us regarding the move by a West Midlands auction house to charge winning bidders who have used the phone the same fee as online buyers.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

MADAM – I totally agree with the comments made by Eddie Holt (‘Spectacularly wrong valuations? No thanks’, Letters, ATG No 2376) regarding valuations given by ‘experts’.

Following the fall of Seringapatam in India on May 4, 1799, portions of the spoils were variously allocated to senior officers of the British force.

As parliamentary debates on future trade relations with the EU raged in London, cross-border business carried on regardless in West Sussex at IACF’s Ardingly International Antiques and Collectors Fair on January 15-16.

It was not a vintage season for armour in the salerooms, but in Thomas Del Mar’s (24% buyer’s premium) auction on December 5 this very original English or Flemish close helmet of c.1560 reached £11,000.

An English School painting depicting one of the earliest venues in cricket was knocked down at £14,000 in a Winchester auction.

British art specialist Patricia Jordan Evans rounds off more than four decades in the trade with her next show called 'The Last Hurrah! 45 Years at Bohun Gallery'.

Buyers are spoilt for choice during May and early June when three decorative and salvage fairs will be running in the UK, all in interesting outdoor settings. Here is a short focus on them.

Exotic blades from all parts of the world are making headlines in the salerooms. Recent auctions have produced some interesting results from unlooked-for places, but none was less expected than the £42,000 paid for a 19th century Siamese niello and silver-gilt mounted sword in the Japanese taste at Thomas Del Mar (24% buyer’s premium) in London on December 5.