Auctioneers

The picturesque Cornish seaside town of St Ives inspired a generation of now well-known artists and sculptors, most of whom are regular names at auction and in dealerships.

The market for vintage ‘tool’ watches continues to burn hot. Lockdales in Martlesham Heath, near Ipswich set a new house record this week when a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner sold at £230,000 (plus premium).

Sextants, microscopes, telescopes and tellariums all lead the way at Bonhams scientific instruments sale with a Benjamin Martin tellarium and planetarium in the spotlight.

An 18th century oil has previously attributed to Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-97) has been declared an autograph work one week before going under the hammer in Bourton-on-the-Water.

Much as I enjoyed playing with my Star Wars figures, eagerly ripping them from the packaging instead of keeping them pristine would have damaged my earning power in future years had I consigned them to auction.

A double portrait of the two early 20th century Hollywood stars Pola Negri and Rudolph Valentino drew an appropriately dramatic competition at Bonhams in London.

Oxford saleroom Mallams will offer a John Constable (1776-1837) landscape drawing on October 18. It will be estimated at £12,000-15,000.

Christie’s will offer Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Salvator Mundi’ at a New York auction next month. It will carry an estimate 'in the region of' $100m.

A logbook recording three voyages to Australia and the Far East made in 1847-52, two of them transporting young prisoners, or 'exiles', to Australia, led Dominic Winter’s latest sale.