Auctions

These days, marketing a doll as Sindy’s saucy sister would be problematic. And the less said about outfits titled Hockey Honey or School Days, the better.

This gouache by Fernand Léger (1881-1955), Les Loisirs, will be one of the highlights of the next sale at Clarke Auction Gallery in Larchmont, New York, on February 6.

Auction figures for firms outside London show a shake-up of the status quo

Found covered in grime in a Portuguese auction house, a three quarter-length portrait of a dark-haired lady by Dutch artist Willem Wissing (1655-1709) has been restored to its former glory by a Belgian dealership and the identity of its sitter revealed as a British aristocrat.

Rare Japanese Meiji gold coin emerges at auction in West Sussex

Fine art dealer Daniel Hunt has launched an auction business opposite his former dealership in Sloane Street.

The so-called Arundel Lions were once a well-known landmark in Sheffield.

A sword sold at Kent auction house C&T (22% buyer’s premium) belonged to a British Antarctic explorer who died in 1912 – but not with Robert Falcon Scott.

A selection of 15 upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.

A selection of these functional but fascinating objects that have appeared at recent sales

Francis Towne watercolour was one of his many works to have gone through Agnews

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

Munich auction house Hermann Historica (25% buyer’s premium) regularly turns up showstopping lots of arms and armour and the star of the latest sales series was a weapon that was always designed to impress on every level.

Bidding on an exceptionally fine, virtually mint first edition of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone offered in the special Firsts into Film section of a December 9-10 sale opened at $75,000.

Milestone Auctions recorded some buoyant prices for rare variants of toy motorcycles in its sale last October (see ATG No 2516).

The most unusual armour lot to emerge in recent sales was the late 16th century German brass parade cuirass which made £86,000 at Thomas Del Mar (20% buyer’s premium) in London on December 8.

Auction totals for 2021 underline the strong recovery since the start of the pandemic

The surprise lot at the sale held on December 11 by Ripon auction house Elstob & Elstob (22% buyer’s premium) was this 19th century Russian hunting dagger.