Auctioneers

Art and antiques businesses in England are more prepared for trading through this new lockdown having gained experience last time around.

In 1793, well in advance of the Slave Trade Act (1807) and the Slavery Abolition Act (1833), 275 British men, women and children attempted to settle an uninhabited island off the coast of Sierra Leone.

Two pieces by ‘Glasgow Four’ artists Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) and Frances Macdonald McNair (1873-1921) topped Lyon & Turnbull’s Decorative Arts: Design since 1860 auction on November 2-3.

Christie’s has axed its stand-alone sales of topographical pictures and will incorporate the specialist department into the 19th century picture department based in London. Consignments in this area will now be offered in auctions in the wider category.

Principal attraction in a Crewkerne book sale at Lawrences (25% buyers premium) was the Browning family archive that featured as Pick of the Week in ATG No 2459, but three other items from that 370 lot sale are noted here.

Swann Galleries is holding a 476-lot sale of Old Master to Modern prints spanning the 16th to 20th centuries in New York on November 12.

The Fine Wine & Whisky sale at Tennants on December 12 features this Macallan-Glenlivet 1937 35-year-old Pure Highland Malt Scotch Whisky.

Estimated at £200-300 in a Kent sale, a military commission that bears the signature of King George III and is additionally signed and endorsed by William Pitt the Elder, Britain’s prime minister at the time of the Seven Years War, sold online instead for £7500.

Two Scottish coastal pictures attracted multiple bidders at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) latest Art & Design sale.

A Chateau De Pomès Pédérère Armagnac distilled in 1950 is estimated at £200-300 at McTear’s Rare & Fine Whisky Auction on December 16.

Ewbank’s Fine Wines & Spirits auction in Surrey on December 17 includes this bottle of Bas Armagnac Baron de Sigognac 1951.

Christie’s holds its Finest and Rarest Wines and Spirits sale in London on December 11.

A group of 33 lots that came to auction from a descendant of the artist Phoebe Anna Traquair (1852-1936) drew a strong response at Bonhams’ (27.5/25/20/13.9%) latest Scottish sale in Edinburgh.

Strong pre-sale interest emerged for two magnums of champagne offered separately at the Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium) Sussex Interiors including Asian Works of Art, Wines & Spirits auction in Wisborough Green on October 20.

As with fellow Dublin saleroom Whyte’s, Adam’s (25% buyer’s premium inc VAT) latest Irish art sale was led by a Paul Henry.

An 1859 first of Darwin’s seminal work shrugs off condition issues to be a best-seller

According to Dreweatts, the 1985 Richebourg by Henri Jayer “rightly holds the hallowed status of ‘legendary’ among Burgundy collectors – the sort of wine that people will travel across the world to experience”.

This pair of early 19th century George III period terrestrial and celestial globes in mahogany stands are by Dudley Adams, (1762-1830) a member of the well-known Adams family of globemakers.

Among the selection coming up in the Wine, Port & Spirits sale at Lacy Scott & Knight on December 11 is a Glen Grant, 1948 Scotch Whisky, from the Glen Grant distillery, Strathspey. Bottled in 1960 by Berry Brothers & Rudd, it is estimated at £1500-2000.