Auctions

A trading jacket signed by disgraced City broker Nick Leeson is coming to John Pye Auctions in July.

A select offering of 44 lots of silver, sculpture, objets d’art and furniture that have been chosen for their quality and provenance go under the hammer at Sotheby’s Bond Street on the evening of July 5 as part of its 'Treasures' sale series.

For more than 10 years a banner sat stowed away in a cupboard at a little charity shop in Leeds after it was donated. Little did the staff know that one day that same once-forgotten item would sell at auction for a hammer price of £13,600.

One of pop artist Andy Warhol’s first self-portraits was hammered down at £5.2m in a London sale.

The novel that introduced the world to James Bond, ‘Casino Royale’ of 1953, has long been a key target for collectors. Anyone who laid out 10/6d for a copy over 60 years ago and has kept good care of the book will have done themselves or their descendants proud.

The bomb release button from the Lancaster bomber of 617 Squadron that released the ‘bouncing bomb’ which destroyed the Möhne Dam on May 17, 1943 is being offered at auction for the first time.

Max Beckmann’s terrifying image of hell, representing the horror of the Nazi regime in Germany, has sold at Christie’s for a record-breaking £32m hammer price to dealer Larry Gagosian.

A bronze family group by Henry Moore (1898-1986) led Christie’s evening sale of Modern British & Irish art in London last night, selling at £3.3m to an Asian collector.

It may seem a blindingly obvious thing to say, but being a war artist can be a dangerous business. Eric Ravilious, now one of the most sought-after Modern British artists, was never seen again after joining a Second World War rescue flight which itself ended up as missing in action.

A painting by UK-born Australian artist Sir Russell Drysdale (1912-1981) has fetched AUD$2.97m when it was sold by Mossgreen in Adelaide on Sunday 25 June. The price is the fifth highest at auction for any Australian artwork.