Bonhams

London’s Russian week of auctions put in a consistent performance last week with the sales at four salerooms generating a combined £37.5m with fees. This compared to £39.2m for the equivalent series last year and the £35.8m raised at the June series.

A spate of early to mid-20th century portraits of society figures and important personalities generated stiff competition at UK sales in London and the regions.

A vase by the great cameo glass artist George Woodall (1850-1925) was offered at auction for the first time at Bonhams’ sale of Fine Glass and British Ceramics last week.

Original watercolours intended for pioneering, unpublished work are now highly valued

A selection of maps of US cities from recent auctions stateside.

Appetite remains for biannual specialist auction which is still a stalwart of the calendar.

Market-fresh examples of Qing imperial splendour dominated a week of auctions timed to coincide with this year’s Asian Art in London event.

Our weekly selection from salerooms.

The 1961 International Exhibition of Modern Jewellery, organised jointly by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and the Victoria and Albert Museum, was the world’s first international display of contemporary jewellery.

Going to the Fields by the Cezch artist Joža Uprka (1861-1940) is one of the potential best-sellers of Bonhams’ sale of 19th century European paintings in New York on November 20.

Our weekly selection from salerooms.

This newly discovered ledger, dated August 18, 1660, to March 16, 1661, was kept in person by Edward Backwell while acting as paymaster to both the Excise and the House of Commons. It carries an estimate of £20,000-40,000 at Bonhams’ Fine Books and Manuscripts sale in Knightsbridge on December 4.