Print Edition

Catalogued as “fresh and beautifully preserved”, a broadside printing of America’s Declaration of Independence authorised by the colony that had led the struggle against British rule, Massachusetts, was the star turn of the first major Americana auction of the year.

A trio of shotgun sales in the spotlight.

A reminder of the dramatic drop in demand over recent decades for Victorian landscapes was evident in Gloucestershire where two such oils by Sidney Richard Percy (1822-86) went under the hammer.

Holt’s (25/20% buyer’s premium) sale in London on December 14 included two prime examples of weapons designed to get their owners out of a tight corner.

Attributed to the arms manufactory at Ripoll in northern Catalonia, this pair of 18th century miquelet-lock belt pistols (below) proved the surprise lot of the sale held by Italian arms specialist Czerny (20% buyer’s premium) in Sarzana on December 9. In good condition with an overall inlay of pierced and engraved decorative steelwork, they sold for €15,500 (£13,600).

A small painting by Scottish artist Robert Gemmell Hutchison (1855- 1936) took a mid-estimate £6000 at Surrey saleroom John Nicholson’s (24% buyer’s premium).

The ink and watercolour manuscript plan of New York City and the Hudson River seen here was prepared by cartographers attached to the Comte de Rochambeau’s forces during the Yorktown campaign in the American War of Independence, c.1781-82.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

More than 100 paintings owned by the Royal Society of Marine Artists are to be sold at auction in Norfolk.

Readers have contacted ATG asking for a definition of ‘museum quality’ – the term used by the British Art Market Federation in regards to those pieces of antique ivory it believes should be exempt from any proposed ban. Here we publish BAMF's exemption explanation as featured in its submission to DEFRA.

Mossgreen is only the latest in a list of auctioneers that have gone under owing money to its core customers – consignors.

The American Civil War was fought during a period of rapid technical development in weaponry. While the conventional and reliable Springfield percussion rifle remained the mainstay of the infantry, many innovative firearms saw service for the first (and sometimes the last) time.

A pastel portrait of a fashionable young Georgian woman in an ostrich feather hat and blue coat with her dog topped the picture section at Lincolnshire saleroom Golding Young & Mawer (20% buyer’s premium).

A fragment of the flag believed to have flown from HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar came to national attention this month when it was knocked down for £240,000 at Sotheby’s.

Detailed and dark, the prints of Gerald Brockhurst (1890-1978) offer striking portraits of both the famous and fictional from the first half of the 20th century.

As winter moves into spring, London will host two major events for arms and armour enthusiasts.

Focus on lots coming up in sales at four auction houses, two from the UK and two from the US.

The antiques-rich Devon town of Honiton was famed for its bobbin lacemaking since the 16th century when it was introduced by Flemish refugees.

An 1894 pencil drawing of a street in Antwerp by Walter Frederick Osborne (1859-1903) was among the last contents offered at auction from West Horsley Place, the Grade I-listed mansion in Surrey owned by historian and broadcaster Bamber Gascoigne.

The American West was the theme of a 43-lot, single-owner collection offered as part of the January 17 sale held by Sotheby’s New York.