Features

You can always find stylish pieces at 20th century design sales held by Italian auction houses. Here are some highlights from recent sales at Wannenes in Genoa on December 15-16 and Colasanti in Rome on October 7-8.

Nine previews of items on offer from dealers

This Bank of England £1000 note dated October 15, 1935, was issued under chief cashier Kenneth Oswald Peppiatt (1934-49).

Very much the highest price in the sale of American Works of Art held by Skinner (25/20/12 % buyer’s premium) in Marlborough, Massachusetts, on January 28 was this bronze figure of Abraham Lincoln.

The sales figures and market share of the top London auction houses in 2021

The most cherished coin from the reign of Victoria is the 1839 gold £5 piece by William Wyon.

A three-quarters-length bust of a bare-chested Antinous, the favourite of Hadrian, appears on this medallic coin minted in Mantinea, Arcadia, c.134AD.

Swann Galleries is holding a sale of Books and Autographs in New York on February 17.

Price increases and a good supply fired the London coins and medals market to record levels in 2021

The 150th Victoria Cross ever awarded sold for £180,000 at London auction house Spink on July 29.

The sale at Sovereign Rarities on September 21 included this Charles I (1625-49), silver pattern unite (20 shillings) dated 1630.

The fourth and final part of the North Yorkshire Moors collection of coins and medals sold by Dix Noonan Webb included some exceptional examples from the Interregnum.

US auction house Skinner has appointed Leah Kingman as director of the 20th century design department.

This Kelmscott press 1892 edition of William Caxton’s translation of 'The History of Reynard the Foxe' will be offered by Potter & Potter auctions as part of its February 26 auction of books and manuscripts in Chicago.

Two signed watercolours by the Indian artist Maqbool Fida Husain (1913-2011) will be on sale at Bruneau & Co of Cranston, Rhode Island, on February 21.

Spink offered 52 coins from one of the ‘lost’ parcels of Alderman Horace Hird (1899-1973), former president of the Yorkshire Numismatic Society.

This ‘cameo’ version of the 1847 gothic crown is one of the finest available for commerce.

Traditional collecting fields still have an attraction when estimates are realistic, as proved by 18th century porcelain and pottery auctioned in the US

This early Georgian walnut open armchair was one of the highlights of the sale of Old Master paintings, English and Continental furniture, silver and decorative arts held by Doyle (26/21/15% buyer’s premium) in New York on January 26.

This bronze Midas Head by the British sculptor Dame Elisabeth Frink (1930-33) featured in a large two-day Americana and International sale held by Pook & Pook (24/13% buyer’s premium) in Downingtown, Pennsylvania on January 13-14.