North America

A selection of Items relating to the famous escapologist Harry Houdini feature prominently among the potential highlights in the latest Potter & Potter Magic Auction to be live streamed from its gallery in Chicago on May 2.

One of the strongest performers in a large, mixed-discipline online-only sale held by Cottone ( 18% buyer’s premium) in Geneseo, New York, was this classical marble statue of a young boy on a carved stone plinth which had the bonus of a late-19th century provenance.

On April 10, 1970, a Paul McCartney ‘self-interview’ ahead of the release of his debut solo album had been taken by the media to be an announcement that the band was no more.

This small-scale book of hours, below, was made c.1490-93 for Charles VIII of France. Containing 12 full-page and 10 small miniatures by the Master of the Chronique scandaleuse, it is offered by Les Enluminures for $575,000 as part of its online initiative: a Books of Hours online update to be sent out biannually.

For their first appearance at the 55,000-seater Shea Stadium in Queens, New York, in 1965, The Beatles needed no promotion. At the height of Beatlemania in the US, the venue sold out in minutes.

Tiffany and Lalique glassware from a private New York City collector provided some of the highlights in the Clarke Auction Gallery (25% buyer’s premium) online and phone bidding sale.

An early work by Boris Anisfeld titled 'Adam and Eve' made one of the highest prices in the Russian paintings and works of art auction at Shapiro (25% buyer’s premium) in New York

Offered without a reserve, a job lot of “low grade” comics dating from the 1940s-50s ended up selling for £1200 in a Comic Book Auctions (19% buyer’s premium) timed sale on thesaleroom.com.

This early-19th century mahogany writing table comes from a private New York City and Southampton, New York, collection of English country house furniture to be offered by Nye & Company.

Sold at $60,000 (£46,295) in a recent New York sale was a broadside, Noticia Estraordinaria, printed in Mexico City in 1836, that brought news of the fall of the Alamo in March of that year.

A 19th century English painting of two prize cattle – a bull and a heifer in a field– was one of the top lots in the sale held by Bruneau in Cranston, Rhode Island, on March 14.

Peter Alexander Loughrey, founder of Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA), passed away on March 16, at the young age of 52, of cancer.

This rare poster for 'The Invisible Man', the 1933 Universal Studios horror film, realised a hammer price of $152,000 (£132,175) in Heritage Auctions’ Movie Poster sale in Dallas.

Works by artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) and her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz (1864- 1946), were the chief focus of a sale held by Sotheby’s (25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium) in New York.