International

The epic white-glove sale of the David and Peggy Rockefeller collection at Christie’s New York has established a new high for a single-owner auction.

Mexican lots, one of them relating to the working of a silver mine in the 16th century, produced some of the higher bids in a recent Americana sale.

If pictures provided the backbone of the Dodo Hamilton collection, then there was no denying the sale’s most popular entries: a large selection of polychrome painted rattan and wicker conservatory furniture, perfect for the Florida beach house.

The first Guide Michelin was published in 1900 and no fewer than 35,000 copies were printed for the World Fair in Paris, where it was was distributed free of charge to motorists.

The eclectic collection of Dr Georg Fischer goes under the hammer at Tajan in its Paris rooms on May 23.

Three sessions devoted to antique and vintage toys over two days take place at RSL Auctions in New Jersey on June 2-3.

In its auction series in Madrid from May 22-24, Segre Subastas will offer 'The Pyramids of Giza' by the Orientalist artist Charles-Théodore Frère (Paris 1814-88).

This pair of ormolu candlesticks by Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843) will feature in the May 24 auction at Duran Subastas in Madrid.

This Allegory of Spring by the 17th century Italian artist Pietro Liberi (Padua 1605-Venice 1687) is one of the works in the May 21 auction of Old Master paintings and furnishings that opens Babuino’s next auction series in Rome.

Bid to €60,000 (£53,100) in a March 16 sale held by Venator & Hanstein (23% buyer’s premium) was a group of letters sent by Charles Darwin in the 1860s and ‘70s to a German botanist, Friedrich Hildebrand.

Unusual in the post-internet age, Freeman’s first-floor gallery in downtown Philadelphia was standing room-only for the April 29 auction of the collection of Dorrance ‘Dodo’ Hill Hamilton (1928-2017).

One of the finest Victoria Cross medals awarded to a Canadian recipient will be staying in Canada thanks to a successf ul fundraising campaign.

Old Masters and post-Impressionist paintings, vintage luggage and the almost inevitable Asian artefacts all appeared among the best-sellers in the recent round of auctions held across Germany and Switzerland.

Axel Plambeck (b.1936) was CEO of a re-insurance company and in his spare time he collected vintage luggage and picnic sets.

A late 19th century Art Nouveau centrepiece is one of the highlights at Quittenbaum’s Munich sale on May 15.