London

A previously unknown sketchbook of watercolours and drawings relating to the California Gold Rush took £16,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Chiswick Auctions.

Traders welcome the return of the organiser’s only London event which was last held in 2020

Sotheby’s (25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium plus 1% overhead premium) latest Old Master evening sale in London was the smallest in terms of the number of lots that anyone could remember at one of these flagship summer events.

The headline borrows the title given to an online Christie’s (26/20% buyer’s premium) sale – one that presented more than 80 modern first editions.

Inscribed to her husband and fellow poet, Ted Hughes, the dedication copy of the first and only collection of Sylvia Plath’s poems to be published in her lifetime, 'The Colossus and other Poems', sold for a record £75,000 in a Sotheby’s (25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium) sale.

Consignments thin on the ground judging by the latest auctions series in London

Different way of operating involves exhibitions, some non-commercial, in a variety of premises.

Arguably the most eyecatching bidding battle at the latest London Old Master series was for a painting of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Portland Gallery shows works by painter who studied under David Bomberg at Borough Polytechnic

TimeLine Auctions’ Antiquities sale includes a dozen good examples of Roman glass including this 3rd-5th century unguentarium with zigzag trail decoration.

Despite the issues of supply affecting the market, odd pockets of success were evident at the latest Old Master sales in London.

Firsts: London’s Rare Books Fair has added an impressive 49 dealers to the roster for its 65th edition thanks to an influx of international traders.

This glass tumbler, pictured below, engraved with a crowned 'N' over a band of diamond cutting, contained in a tooled leather cylindrical travelling case, is of a type that accompanied Napoleon on campaign.

A composite German full armour, c.1500-10, from a European Collection was one of the highlights of Thomas Del Mar’s (25% buyer’s premium) sale of Fine Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria held at Olympia Auctions on June 29.

This summer was something of a feast when it came to the Modern British art auctions in London.

To get an idea of the healthy nature of the medals market at the moment, consider the Victoria Cross sold at Spink (20% buyer’s premium) this summer.

Bearing as its title ‘Certain Directions for the Sending of Men and Comodities, & Cattle to Virginia’, a 10pp secretarial manuscript thought to date from c.1609 proved a major attraction in a July 14 sale held by Forum (15/20/12.5% buyer’s premium).

Between reserving various pieces to museums, Guy Peppiatt was pleased to sell a large watercolour of Yorkshire by Peter de Wint (1748- 1849) during the latest London Art Week (LAW).

Only two examples of this 11in (28cm) Sèvres biscuit porcelain bust of Napoleon’s son, Napoléon-François-Charles-Joseph Bonaparte (1811-32), are known.

Unique medal combinations will always catch a collector’s eye, particularly when accompanied by a highly emotive backstory.