Auctioneers

“Wait a minute. You’re putting my gloves in jail? This is awful. How can you put my gloves in jail? They ain’t done nothing… yet!”

Overshadowed by the boom in Chinese works and contemporary art they may have been, but the rise in demand for British studio ceramics has been the talk of the market these last few years.

Symbols of good fortune and longevity in both China and Japan, cranes cast in bronze with incised decoration were simply catalogued as oriental at the April 10 sale held by Edinburgh auction house Thomson Roddick (16% buyer’s premium).

Last week’s spectacular $14.5m sale of an ancient ‘stargazer’ idol has been placed in doubt after the Turkish government challenged Christie’s right to sell it.

Catch of the day at Cockermouth auctioneers Mitchells’ (20% buyer’s premium) sporting sale on April 8 was a cast of a salmon. The 48lb fish, cast by Mallochs of Perth, was estimated at £1800-2000 but was reeled in by a Scottish enthusiast at £5200.

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

Best round scores in the most recent PBA Galleries (20/15% buyer’s premium) golfing sale came with the appearance of a group of the papers of golfing historian and collector CB Clapcott.

Compiled by J Wells Kelly and published in San Francisco in 1862, a rare copy of the First Directory of Nevada Territory…, which was worn, dry and splitting but in original, leather-backed printed boards, sold for $6500 (£5080) in a PBA Galleries sale of April 20.

Austrian saleroom im Kinsky has hit out at the “biased reporting” and “aggressive reaction” to its decision to offer a Nazi-looted painting at auction. With heightened media coverage about the consignment, the portrait of a Dutch merchant by Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613-1670) was eventually withdrawn shortly before it was due to be offered in Vienna at the end of last month.

Not so much in demand as they once were, Royal Doulton figurines still have their devoted following, particularly when they are rarities such as the Lady Jester (HN1222) piece offered at Michael J Bowman (17.5% buyer’s premium) sale at Chudleigh on March 25.

A relatively unfamiliar name in Nordic works is under the spotlight at Bruun Rasmussen in Copenhagen in its Nordic Design auction on Thursday, June 8.

A rare ebonised framed armchair after the original design by Edward William Godwin (1833-86) sold for £44,000 (plus 18% premium) at Moore Allen & Innocent in Cirencester on April 21.

Several single-owner collections boosted the total of Tennants’ (20% buyer’s premium) Spring Fine Art Sale in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, on March 25.