News

With Old Master sleeper spotters trawling through online catalogues looking for works with hidden potential, it’s not unusual for the odd lot to draw an unexpected bidding at sales all over the country.

Only a handful of Byzantine-style gold and micro-mosaic pieces by Antonio Civilotti (1798-1870) have appeared for sale in recent years.

Mary Tudor’s personal copy of Vergil’s history of England has sold at auction for £140,000.

The Gerard collection of Chinese export silver comes for sale at Chiswick Auctions on October 9.

A Cray-1 Supercomputer owned by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen set a new high for any computer sold at auction when it took $810,000 (£618,320) at Christie’s New York.

London firm Charles Ede is expanding its repertoire and has brought in James Richards to launch its new approach which includes a greater focus on fine art at this year's 'Frieze Masters'.

The bad news if you have a first edition of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone' in soft covers is that they are not as rare as the hardback version which numbered 500 copies.