Germany

From the late Middle Ages onwards, an unusual form of glass bottle appeared in many parts of continental Europe.

On the first day of an auction held by Schloss Ahlden (26% buyer’s premium), a German collector with a passion for history saw off numerous dealers and collectors from home and abroad who had also trained their sights on a set of four silver candlesticks from the early 19th century.

There was obviously much more to a pair of 14 and 15in (35 and 37cm) terracotta figures offered at auction than the starting price of €240 suggested.

Away from London, some exceptional coin sales coming up in Europe include a number of outstanding British issues.

'Hortus sanitatis' (Gart der Gesundheit, Augsburg 1485), considered among the most important early works of natural history and one of the first scientific incunabula in a vernacular language, is on offer at Munich saleroom Ketterer Kunst on November 28.

Stephen Ongpin Fine Art is staging a pop-up exhibition from September 13-October 7 of drawings by Adolph Menzel in Hamburg after an earlier staging was cut short by Covid restrictions.

A string of high prices way over estimates emerged at a recent Asian art sale held by Nagel (24.5% buyer’s premium) in Stuttgart.

Almost two thousand years ago, a wealthy Roman woman would have kept her jewellery or trinkets in a cylindrical box, a so-called Pyxis. They were originally plain vessels, often made of pottery.

After the difficult years of the pandemic, the organisers of the Bamberger Antiquitätenwochen are hoping that this year’s event will mark a return to some form of normality.

Ketterer’s (25/20% buyer’s premium) recent evening sale in Munich got off to a perfect start.

A big surprise was in store for the owner of a Chinese lacquer plate consigned to Hermann Historica (25% buyer’s premium) in Grasbrunn, just outside Munich.

A US collector went way over the odds to secure a 15th century southern Indian bronze that took top honours at the Asian art sale at Lempertz (26% buyer’s premium) in Cologne.

The world record for a car sold at auction was broken last month when a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé was hammered down for €135m (£112m) on May 5.

By 1920, as a new era of aero-engined racing cars threatened to break the 100mph barrier, the emerging sport of motor racing required better and more precise time-keeping.

This Vienna porcelain tea bowl and saucer from the 1720s is painted en camaieu by Ignaz Preissler (1676-1741).

This English deck chronometer is Molyneux No 1326 – made by the London maker Robert Molyneux in c.1830.

Inspired by British Windsor chairs, the Danish designer Hans J Wegner created his so-called Peacock chair in 1947.

The latter years of the 19th century and the first of the 20th marked the most productive era of the French designer Louis Majorelle.

Twenty-five finely decorated porcelain plaques, several from the legacy of a German aristocratic family, are being sold at auction.

Numerous pieces in the Asian art sale at Lempertz in Cologne on June 11 come from the collection of the German doctor Ludwig Jansen.