US

A small white zip-up bag used by Neil Armstrong to bring samples of lunar material back to earth following the historic Apollo 11 moon landing of 1969 was the star lot in a Space Exploration sale held by Sotheby’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on July 20.

The coloured stones market remains strong, so Skinner can expect strong international competition for an antique sapphire pendant brooch (below) in Boston on September 19.

Christie’s has said Turkey’s claim to own an ancient Anatolian idol that has been on American soil for over half a century sets “a disastrous precedent for collectors, museums and the art market”.

More than 100 lots of robots and space toys feature in Morphy Auctions’ 1700-lot toy and doll sale to be held on September 16-17 in Denver, Pennsylvania.

Large-scale paintings of intimate domestic scenes are unusual in Chinese art. The Chinese export reverse-painted glass painting of a young mother nursing her infant son offered at Northeast Auctions in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, earlier this month is thought to be one of only a handful of full-size versions painted of this once popular image.

Thomaston Place Auction Galleries of Maine is holding its annual summer sale, a three-day offering of more than 1500 lots covering a huge variety of different categories.

A month after the British Museum’s hugely popular Hokusai exhibition in London finished, another Japanese master of the woodblock print is on show at a New York gallery.

London dealership Marchant is to sell Chinese artworks at a dedicated auction in New York.

The final session of James D Julia’s three-day sale of more than 1600 lots to be held in Fairfield, Maine, from August 16-18 is devoted to Asian art.

A US judge has ordered Christie’s to identify the winning bidder of the $12.5m (£9.7m) Guennol Stargazer, an ancient Anatolian idol auctioned in New York in April.

Russ Withem has joined Morphy Auctions as a firearms expert in the company’s firearms and militaria division.