Auctions

News and previews of art and antiques sold at auctions throughout the UK and overseas, from multi-million-pound blockbusters to affordable collectables.


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Medal celebrates that sinking feeling

15 October 2018

This medal documents a little-known moment in the history of the English Civil War. In 1648, following a revolt in the Parliamentary fleet, a number of ships went to Helvoetsluys in the western Netherlands and were organised as a Royalist squadron by Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1619-82).

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Getting stuffed is a good move for auctioneers

15 October 2018

Taxidermy, having emerged in a few years from a dusty, rather unseemly subject to a rostrum hot topic, continues to flourish across the country.

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The dust settles: a special report on the Australian auction scene

15 October 2018

After almost a decade of flatlining annual sales and the collapse of Mossgreen, Australia’s auctioneers are vocal about the improving market.

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Sotheby’s rolls out the barrel

15 October 2018

Investigation into wine storage is unusual success in computing library auction.

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Kelly still standing after 20 bare-knuckle rounds

15 October 2018

“If I was to select just one lot we have sold this year,” says John Albrecht, managing director at Leonard Joel, “it would be the haunting, period photo of Australia’s infamous bushranger, Ned Kelly, taken in 1874 after a boxing match.”

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Beautiful piscatorial plates go swimmingly in German sale

15 October 2018

Catching the eye in a German auction was a fine example of the most beautiful of all piscatorial plate books.

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Webb’s independent again

15 October 2018

Leading New Zealand firm Webb’s – established by Auckland gallery owner Peter Webb in 1976 – became part of Mossgreen in October 2014. Two businessmen and art collectors from the city, Ewen Mackenzie-Bowie and Bruce Qin, rescued the saleroom earlier this year following the collapse of the parent company and a regular calendar of sales is now in operation from new premises in Mount Eden.

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Silver from a Melbourne founder

15 October 2018

Presented to Captain William Lonsdale (1799-1864) in 1842 by the people of Melbourne in recognition of his services to the founding colony, the Lonsdale Silver Presentation has remained in his descendants’ care for 176 years.

Foujita

Foujita record brings many happy returns for Bonhams

13 October 2018

'La fête d’anniversaire' by the Japanese-French artist Léonard Foujita (1886-1968) sold for a hammer price of £6.1m (plus buyer's premium) to one of eight phone bidders at Bonhams’ Impressionist and Modern Art sale on October 11.

Banksy

Shredded £1.04m Banksy renamed ‘Love is in the Bin’ to go on show at Sotheby’s auction house

12 October 2018

The buyer of the £1.04m Banksy that was partly shredded in a publicity stunt at an auction has agreed to keep the work - which has been renamed ‘Love is in the Bin’.

Titanic

Museums hit out at Titanic artefacts auction process

12 October 2018

The National Maritime Museum and National Museums Northern Ireland claim the bidding process in the sale of more than 5500 artefacts from the wreck of the doomed Titanic prevented them from submitting a formal offer.

Pen and ink silhouettes Mendip auction rooms

Five lots that caught bidders’ eyes including pen and ink silhouettes, a Qing model of a tree and an 18th century casket

12 October 2018

ATG’s selection of highlights sold at auctions this week, including a model tree taken from the Chinese emperor's Summer Palace.

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Where to be: Five places to find luxury items this month

12 October 2018

From wine and whisky to handbags and Hermés scarves, luxury auctions can be a chance to indulge in something extra special – sometimes at affordable prices. A series of sales across the UK this month look likely to have buyers bidding on choice pieces, with a few a little out of the ordinary.

Carlton Ware

Five Carlton Ware Art Deco designs to dazzle at auction

11 October 2018

More than 50 lots of colourful Carlton Ware Art Deco pottery are up for sale in Salisbury next week.

Mouseman dresser Horlicks collection

Mighty mouse: Horlicks’ Mouseman commission stirs up Essex auction room

10 October 2018

The Horlicks collection of Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson furniture was sold at Sworders auction yesterday for £236,000.

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Eyes right for two striking photographs by Cameron and McCurry on offer in American auction

10 October 2018

If eyes really are the windows into the soul then two photographs taken nearly 120 years apart give the viewer plenty to ponder.

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Affordable art: Six works sold or offered for under £900 including an 18th century print of a Joseph Wright of Derby masterwork

10 October 2018

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales below £900 and three upcoming lots offered over the next fortnight, including a c.1768 engraving by William Pether after a masterwork by the great Joseph Wright of Derby.

Cottingley Fairies

Hammer highlights: five lots that caught bidders’ eyes including photographs of a fairy hoax that famously duped Arthur Conan Doyle.

09 October 2018

ATG’s selection of highlights sold at auctions last week, including a rare 18th century left-handed cricket bat and photographs of a fairy hoax that famously duped Arthur Conan Doyle.

Bishton Hall

Contents of a Staffordshire manor house comes to auction in Derbyshire

09 October 2018

Derbyshire auction house Hansons is selling the complete contents of a Staffordshire manor house next week. Bishton Hall, at Wolseley Bridge, near Stafford, was built and has been home to the Stafford Northcote family and Saint Bede’s Prep School since 1946.

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Buyers dig deep for classical ‘Roman’ bust at Sheffield auction

08 October 2018

A classical marble bust took an unexpected £129,000 at Sheffield Auction Gallery on September 21.

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