Bonhams

More than $120m of Asian art was sold at auction during last week’s New York Asia Week.

“It’s not the age or pedigree – it’s the look of the piece.” The phrase became less a heresy and more a cliché during the latter years of the furniture boom of blessed memory, when the increasingly influential decorator trade was spending substantial sums on 19th and early 20th century reproductions.

On the Baroque façade of Girona Cathedral in Catalonia stands the figures of Saint Joseph and Saint James, carved in the 1960s by local sculptor Anton Casamor (1907-79).

Tutu, a previously lost portrait by Ben Enwonwu (1917-94) of the Ife royal princess Adetutu Ademiluyi set a new record for the artist at Bonhams’ Africa Now auction.

The 20th century portraitist Meredith Frampton (1894-1984) achieved remarkable success in a relatively short career.

A Parisian Book of Hours dating to c.1440-50 was among illuminated or decorated manuscripts sold during in the closing weeks of 2017.

With options to sell at regular intervals in North America, Europe, Hong Kong or China, the major auction houses and their vendors take a global view of the Asian art market.

German-made painted wood Noah’s arks, appealing to folk art and toy collectors alike, don’t get much better than the mid- 19th century example sold at Bonhams Knightsbridge.

Under the overall command of James Clark Ross, one of the earlier major expeditions to the Antarctic regions focused principally on magnetic and geographical investigations – but others aboard had different priorities.

Printed in Mexico in 1787, but promoted as the first book in English printed west of the Mississippi, a slim work of just 14 leaves in contemporary paper wrappers called A Short Abridgment to Christian Doctrine was one of the rarer items offered in a recent California sale.

A fascinating archive of designs for Brunel’s Thames Tunnel sold at Bonhams was bought by a museum dedicated to the pioneering structure to form the centrepiece of a £4.5m expansion, it has been revealed.

Further discoveries from recent New York and London auctions including polar rarities.

The rise of the ‘young classics’ has helped the market become accessible to investors across all prices. Nigel Boothman talks to auctioneers and experts about accelerating trends for 2018. He also looks at the motorbikes and automobilia markets.

Among the lots offered in the March 9 Books and Manuscripts auction at Bonhams New York is an Isaac Newton work now with parallels to the rather more modern Harry Potter books.

A view of coastal Mexico was knocked down at £280,000 at Bonhams’ latest Travel and Exploration sale in Knightsbridge – a record price at auction for British topographical painter Daniel Egerton (1797-1842).

Almost a quarter of a century since ATG’s first overview of the numismatic market, ATG reviews the comings and goings of 2017

A coin that a set a record for a British five pound piece features among the hammer highlights for coins and banknotes sold across the year at auction.