UK

The demand for 1960s Pulcini glass birds made by Alessandro Pianon (1931-64) for the Venetian company Vistosi has spiked in recent months.

Our listing of British and Irish book auctions taking place from July 16-27, 2019.

Visit by auctioneer to a regular auction-goer’s apartment uncovers Wedgwood collection.

Pleased as the vendors were to be told by Gloucestershire auctioneer Martin Lambert that a 1920s trunk from their late parents’ home could be worth £2000, they were happier when pre-sale interest in Tayler & Fletcher’s recent sale brought a revised estimate of £2500-4000.

An “extremely rare” grouping of military items including a British 1899 issue leather hobnail boot with a shrapnel hole sold for £6500 at a Buckinghamshire auction on July 3.

Just four months after identifying two tiny compositional drawings as the work of John Constable (1776- 1837) and selling them for close to £90,000, west London saleroom Chiswick Auctions struck gold again with a third ‘rediscovered’ landscape.

Patrick Heron’s screenprint 'January 1973: 12 1973' is among the offerings at Belgrave St Ives’ summer exhibition of Modern art.

The classic ‘orange’ Pulcini glass bird is deemed the most common of the five designed by Pianon.

Saved at the last minute from a skip, a collection of Aboriginal weapons drew worldwide interest at Martel Maides’ sale in St Peter Port, Guernsey.

An 1841 guide to London’s ladies of the night sold by Hansons for £3300 featured recently in ATG (No 2390), and one of the many rarities that emerged from the recent Gloucestershire sale of the late Martin Orsky’s library was a group of four 18th century broadsides advertising prostitutes.

A 2m-wide early 1950s sofa offered for £7000 on the stand of The Modern Warehouse was one of the larger objects attracting buyers at the latest 'Art & Antiques Fair Olympia'.

A large canvas by the Taiwan-born British minimalist Richard Lin (1933-2011) sailed to £84,000 at Ludlow saleroom McCartneys (17% buyer’s premium), setting a house record in the process.

Tennants credited “fresh-to-market pictures with a strong provenance” as the driving force behind the notable results in its Modern and Contemporary Art sale.

Bamfords’ James Lewis has set a new Guinness World Record for the 'Longest Auction by One Single Auctioneer'.

Peter Card’s fascination with this niche area stretches to the joy of extensive research

Two musical boxes catching the eye and ear among the small vertu sections at summer silver sales.

The Patriotic War of 1812 stirred up powerful feelings of national pride in Russia.

For three years now Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) has, in addition to its high-profile auctions, been holding fortnightly, online-only timed sales that in their diverse content, it feels, act as a useful bellwether for the book world at large.

Denys Wilcox of The Court Gallery specialises in British and French art from 1880 to the late 20th century with an emphasis on English Post-Impressionism and the Paris School. He recently published 'The Art of Doris Hatt'.

As a reminder of the days when a piece of quality furniture could be expected to top a wide-ranging provincial sale, a George II giltwood and gesso occasional table led the way at Dawson’s (20% buyer’s premium) 550-lot event in Maidenhead.