Auctioneers

The eclectic collection of Dr Georg Fischer goes under the hammer at Tajan in its Paris rooms on May 23.

Dealer Chris Martin-Zakheim is selling his stock after closing Iconastas of Piccadilly due to ill health.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Another spring sale, another impressive total. But perhaps what distinguished the silver sale held at Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’s premium) was that the £750,000 total was mainly built up by affordable collectors’ items.

Exotic visions are Orientalist art’s stock-in-trade. Bustling bazaars and colourful mosques, lavish harems and sun-drenched deserts populate the canvases in this field.

An essential of genteel Georgian life, silver apple corers with their simple elegance were once much prized by collectors. However, a collection of nine early 19th century examples offered at Woolley & Wallis on April 24-25 met a mixed reception, with only five getting away.

Modern Egyptian art emerged as a stand-out sector during Islamic Week. The leading lot of Sotheby’s 20th Century Art/Middle East sale was a work by pioneering painter Mahmoud Said (1897-1964), dubbed the father of Egyptian modernism.

This Allegory of Spring by the 17th century Italian artist Pietro Liberi (Padua 1605-Venice 1687) is one of the works in the May 21 auction of Old Master paintings and furnishings that opens Babuino’s next auction series in Rome.

A speciality for collectors of silver wine labels are the enamelled examples produced in Battersea in the 18th century.

An early German whaling scene took top honours at marine specialist Charles Miller’s (20% buyer’s premium) May Day sale in West Kensington.

Two fine Dutch pieces quadrupled estimates at Woolley & Wallis on April 24-25: a c.1637 wine cup by an unidentified Middelburg smith and a table bell.

What is your bidding technique? This Bateman cartoon on offer at John Nicholson’s on May 23 should strike a chord with ATG readers who remember the days before bidding paddles.

Estimated at £400-600, a Satsuma censer by Kinkozan provided more evidence that there is considerable life in the market for top-quality Meiji works of art when offered by Surrey auctioneer Catherine Southon (18% buyer’s premium).

The footballing power of mighty George Brown led to his nickname of ‘Bomber’ decades before the title went to Gerd Müller. Brown’s glory days were with Huddersfield Town FC, a power in the land 90 years ago.

Buildings constructed out of straw bales sound more like the world of Channel 4’s Grand Designs rather than the often solidly traditional realm of art and antiques auctioneers.

The belief that porcelain dolls are somehow sinister has taken hold in recent years – and doubtless the appearance of the rare bebe pictured below rather reinforced the bias of some who viewed the Heliers (18% buyer’s premium) sale at Blackburn.

Suffolk auction house Bishop & Miller is holding its first-ever specialist Oriental Art and Antiques Sale on May 24.

A look at the latest saleroom appointments, including Roseberys appointing a former director and works of art specialist at Christie’s.

Briefly catalogued as a 19th century French cabinet embellished with gilt metal mounts and a jasperware plaque, this highly decorative piece shown below was a stand-out offering at Rayleigh auction house Stacey’s (20% buyer’s premium).

The coming weeks will offer some special, if sometimes very costly, opportunities for bird lovers.