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MADAM – Michael Baggott’s recent letter about the potential adverse impact of the ivory sales ban on the display of ivory pieces by museums is, with respect, misguided.

Among the silver from North Mymms Park lots offered at Sworders, a couple of 18th century classics, a c.1735 Scottish bullet teapot and a pair of John Cafe London 1775 table candlesticks, were eclipsed by the surprise success of a scantily catalogued Oriental teapot.

Pride comes before a fall and in the case of Napoleon, Smolensk came before Moscow. On May 18 Ketterer Kunst is selling a 2ft x 2ft 7in (60 x 79cm) scene of Napoleon observing the burning city of Smolensk.

MADAM – I have been dealing in Oriental antiques for almost 50 years and have been a supporter of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) for most of this time.

A rare 18th century variable microscope by eminent instrument maker George Adams sold for £88,000 at specialist science and early technology auctioneer Flints (20% + VAT buyer’s premium).

Numerous works of art in the spring sales at Van Ham in Cologne come from the extensive legacy of Friedrich Wilhelm Waffenschmidt (1925-2017), founder of one of Europe’s leading electronics retailers.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period April 26-May 2, 2018. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

I was consulted by an art dealer who bought a painting at auction which turned out to belong to someone other than the vendor. The painting went back to the true owner, the consignor to the auction was not worth suing, but did we have a case against the auctioneer?

In the bicentenery year of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the Gothic genre continues to capture the popular imagination, writes Kate Quill.

Gothic literature is perhaps most alive in the public imagination today through cinema, with horror films inspired by the classic Gothic stories going back to the earliest days of the medium.