Features

The Rolex GMT-Master, originally designed in collaboration with Pan American Airways and issued by the airline to their crews on long-haul flights, was made as an aviator watch.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Speedmaster Professional as a space exploration tool in 1997, Omega created the Missions Collection.

This exceptionally preserved Greek terracotta seated goddess retaining much of its stylised red slip decoration emerged as one of the highlights of the summer antiquities sales in London.

Consigned from a private deceased estate, a group of decorative mosaic floor tile fragments took a multi-estimate £2200 at Clevedon Salerooms (22% buyer’s premium) in Bristol.

A dozen lots of Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts once owned by Ferdinand Mainzer (1871-1943), a German-Jewish gynaecologist turned historical author, will open Woolley & Wallis’ tribal art and antiquities auction in Salisbury on September 22.

The Seiko Ref 6139 or Pogue is a watch that many ‘Swiss’ collectors covet because of its good looks and space heritage.

The highlight of NASA’s 1965 Gemini IV mission was the first space walk by an American. As astronaut Ed White floated free outside the spacecraft for approximately 20 minutes in June 3 he wore an Omega Speedmaster Ref 105.003 strapped by Velcro to the outside of the left-side sleeve of his G4C space suit.

This Egyptian polychrome painted wood sarcophagus mask comes from the lid of an anthropoid coffin. These were coffins carved to the outline of the mummy’s body and decorated with the face and wig of the deceased.

Unearthed in a group lot at Lindsay Burns (20% buyer’s premium) in Perth, this Roman marbled Samian ware bowl is believed to closely relate to another in the British Museum.

With so many auction houses selling jewellery throughout late July and August this year, there was scarcely a summer break. However, the volume of material offered for sale will increase markedly this month. Pictured here is a brief selection of pieces available to bid for at home and abroad.

This elegant pair of finely worked early Hellenistic gold bracelets featuring a rather sympathetic and graceful rendering of the snake-haired gorgon Medusa are believed to have been made by a courtly goldsmith workshop during the 4th-3rd century BC.

On September 12 Brunk Auctions of Asheville, North Carolina, is holding a single-owner sale comprising the estate of William N Banks Junior from his Georgia property, Bankshaven.

Although hampered by Covid-19 and the ongoing issues surrounding imports of Chinese works of art, the September series of Asian art auctions in New York appears – like most sales in the US – to be remarkably unscathed by recent geopolitical events.

This 11in (28cm) high French automaton black marble and gilt bronze ‘quarter deck’ clock has a figure of a sailor and a captain at the stern.

This three-piece painted cast-iron garden seating set dated to the third quarter of the 19th century is one of the lots from the Collection of A Connecticut Gentleman that is to be offered for sale by Freeman’s of Philadelphia, on September 15.

Included in Hindman’s September 15 sale of Jewellery in Chicago will be a group of pieces designed by Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co. Among them is this green beryl and diamond ‘Bird on a Rock’ brooch.

A two-day sale of works from an Atlanta estate home, White Oaks, will take place at Ahlers & Ogletree in Atlanta, Georgia on September 12-13 featuring a wide range of European and American fine and decorative art.

This Mintons Pâte-sur-Pâte plaque, dated to c.1900, decorated by Marc-Louis Solon will feature in Weschler’s Capital Collections auction to be held in Rockville, Maryland, on September 18.

This lustre vase decorated by Richard Joyce for Pilkington Royal Lancastrian dates from c.1915.

This George III Sheffield plated tea machine from c.1790 comprises a hot water urn with a domed cover and a telescoping finial with steam vent, as well as a pair of tea urns, all engraved with the Clan Colville crest and motto 'Oblier ne puis'.