International

An auction record for a British coin was set in New York when a 1703 Vigo five guineas piece sold at $900,000 (£703,000) – $1.08m (£845,000) including premium. The sale was conducted by Baldwin’s of St James’s as part of The New York Premier Sale in Manhattan on January 13.

The precise function of the series of English tin-glazed earthenware seated cat jugs common to the 1650s-70s is unknown but, as many are dated and initialled, they may have been given as marriage or betrothal gifts.

Mark Peaker is co-founder and chief executive of Hong Kong’s 3812 Gallery, which specialises in Chinese post-war and contemporary art with a focus on ink. A new branch of the business opened in St James’s, London, last year. The exhibition 'Echoes' runs from January 28-March 9.

This 3ft 2in (97cm) high Roman marble statue of draped female form with a lyre, representing the Greek muse Euterpe, dates from the 2nd-3rd century AD.

Sales of ski posters have long been a seasonal feature of the auction scene scheduled for those winter months when enthusiasts take to the slopes.

The sale of a family collection of British and American art and antiques assembled by three successive generations of South Carolina enthusiasts will go under the hammer through Childress Gaffney auctions in Greenville on February 9.

Two suits of armour that emerged in recent auctions at Continental salerooms.

A two-in-one purchase, this Simon and Halbig bisque-headed doll comes with its own teddy bear in a 550-lot online-only auction of toys and past playthings.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from January 29-February 9, 2019.

Salisbury saleroom Woolley & Wallis regained top spot in the UK regional auction market for 2018, while the investment at Chiswick Auctions has begun to bear fruit. These were just two of the findings in ATG's annual review of the hammer totals and trends at some of the leading salerooms in the UK and Ireland.

The European Parliament is to vote on a new law this week that would introduce extra red tape for dealers in antiques and antiquities operating within the European Union.

A selection of eight top items sold at regional salerooms who reported hammer totals for ATG's annual round-up of the auction market for 2018.

A work once said to have “…set the course for the modern world by its effective destruction of the anthropocentric view of the universe” made a rare auction appearance.

'Across the Continent. Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way' is a well-known hand coloured litho print issued by Currier & Ives, although the publisher’s imprint has been cut off the bottom of the example shown below.

One of the attractions of BRAFA, the Brussels art and antiques fair which is traditionally a new-year opener in continental Europe, is its breadth. This is not a specialist event: it concentrates on quality across a range of disciplines.

Among the numerous dealers at BRAFA showing early works of art is Brussels’ Gallery Desmet, which specialises in sculpture and objects ranging from Antiquity to the Grand Tour.

Whitford Fine Art from London is a long-standing BRAFA stalwart (understandably given that the gallery’s core stock is work by 20th century Belgian and international artists).