Auctions

ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week across the UK.

A new record for any item sold in an online-only sale at Sotheby’s was set when the Nobel Memorial Prize for Economic Science awarded to Friedrich von Hayek (1899-1982) sold for £950,000.

A Chinese gilt bronze figure bought at a garage sale and appraised on PBS’s Antiques Roadshow sold yesterday in New York for $1.7m (£1.3m) – around 21 times its upper estimate and more than 17,000 times its original purchase price.

Sotheby's March 20 Made in Britain auction featured a selection of paintings, works on paper, prints, photography, contemporary and studio ceramics and design by British artists. Among the photographs were unusual images of the queen, fashion model Kate Moss and actor Bill Nighy.

James Lewis, founder and director of Bamfords auctioneers in Derbyshire, will attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for the longest continuous auction taken by a single auctioneer, in aid of wildlife charities.

Hertfordshire County Council is going ahead with the auction of artworks from its collection this week despite the launch of a petition to ‘save’ it from being dispersed.

The successful buyer at auction of the ‘Fallen Madonna With The Big Boobies’ - the prop that was a running joke in the 1980s sitcom ‘Allo ‘Allo - has taken the painting to his home in France.

A pair of ‘champagne’ lamps designed by surrealist artist Salvador Dalí has been bought by the Victoria and Albert Museum and will be reunited with Dalí’s Mae West Lips sofa.

Two fragments of the Berlin Wall once used in a memorial to those killed in escape attempts sold for a combined hammer total of £17,000 at an auction in West Sussex last week.

She wrote two of the 20th century’s great masterpieces of fiction. Now on the 30th anniversary of her death, letters and photos relating to ‘Rebecca’ and ‘Jamaica Inn’ author Daphne du Maurier will go under the hammer at an Ely auction house.

A collection of watercolours, drawings and letters by American painter George Catlin (1796-1872) will be offered at Forum Auctions next week.

Beans manufacturer Heinz has paid a hammer price of £750 at auction for a special issue 18ct gold baked bean.