Auctions

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


Marvel Comics credit Heritage Auctions.jpg

Marvel’s first ever comic book - granddaddy of all Marvel Comics - makes auction record at $1m

22 November 2019

A 1939 copy of Marvel Comics No 1 sold at Heritage Auctions this week setting a world auction record for the most expensive Marvel comic ever sold.

Bust of Paul Phélypeaux de Pontchartrain

Bust of leading French statesman by the king’s sculptor fetches £2m in Paris auction

22 November 2019

A rare early 17th century bronze bust of a French statesman discovered in a French country house was knocked down at €2.4m (£2.07m) hammer at the Drouot auction centre in Paris this week.

sketch books

High society portrait, 19th century sketch books and an oak chair owned by Elisabeth Frink – five auction highlights that caught bidders’ eyes in the last week

22 November 2019

ATG’s selection of hammer highlights this week includes an oak chair from the collection of Dame Elisabeth Frink that made over 12-times estimate.

star-wars.jpg

Auction record for Star Wars toy set in US with sale of rocket-firing Boba Fett figure

20 November 2019

A new record for any Star Wars toy has been set in the US with the appearance at auction of a rare prototype action figure - the J-slot rocket-firing Boba Fett.

Jack_London_(athlete)_1929 - Wikipedia image.jpg

First Olympic medal to be won by a black British athlete beats Antiques Roadshow valuation at auction

19 November 2019

The first Olympic medals won by a black British athlete together with his sporting memorabilia sold at Hansons today.

Bronte.jpg

Yorkshire’s Brontë Parsonage Museum secures rare manuscript at Paris auction

18 November 2019

The Brontë Parsonage Museum has secured an 1830 autograph miniature manuscript by a 14-year-old Charlotte Brontë (1816-55) that was auctioned at Aguttes in Paris.

img_1-7.jpg

Bids pour in for Asian art as £800,000 teapot and Kangxi rediscovery highlight latest sales series

18 November 2019

A Qianlong teapot which made £800,000 in Dorchester provided the stellar result among some exceptional Asian art lots offered for sale in the UK regions and Ireland last week.

img_4-1.jpg

Artemisia Gentileschi’s Lucretia takes record in Paris auction

18 November 2019

Artemisia Gentileschi’s painting 'Lucretia', which was in a private collection for more than 40 years, has made a new record for the artist at an auction in Paris.

img_39-4.jpg

Five lots to watch at auction this week including a rediscovered Paul Nash painting, a tripod table and a rare sampler

18 November 2019

With estimates from £600-70,000, here are five previews of upcoming sales this week.

img_17-1.jpg

Big names boost Aesthetic appeal at auction

18 November 2019

Even during his lifetime Edward William Godwin complained that ebonised tables to his textbook ‘Anglo-Japanese’ design c.1867-68 were being copied by a number of different manufacturers.

img_54-1.jpg

Bernhard Hoetger's 'light and shadow' ceramic figure emerges at German sale

18 November 2019

After training in Düsseldorf and Paris, where he had met Rodin and Maillol, both of whom had a major influence on his work, the German sculptor, painter and architect Bernhard Hoetger (1874-1949) joined the artists’ colony in Darmstadt in 1911.

img_4-3.jpg

German violin instrumental in bid for overlooked box lot

18 November 2019

A good-quality violin linked to the German maker Jacobus Stainer (1619-83) led a group of previously overlooked musical instruments in a Towcester auction.

British and Irish book auctions: November 19-30, 2019

18 November 2019

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.

img_52-3.jpg

A price not to be sneezed at

18 November 2019

In the first decades of the 19th century, watchmakers in many parts of Europe made a living by producing highly ornate watches and gold boxes, many of them for Chinese buyers.

img_54-2.jpg

Snail netsuke from Nagoya crawls into Cologne auction

18 November 2019

During the late 18th century, schools of netsuke carving were established throughout Japan.

img_11-6.jpg

Bid Barometer: issue 2418

18 November 2019

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period November 6-13, 2019. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

img_23-1.jpg

Royal yacht which sailed into obsolescence

18 November 2019

This oil below depicts the Victoria & Albert II, the largest royal yacht of the Victorian era which remained in service until the end of Queen Victoria’s life.

img_23-3.jpg

Brews news: British Museum buys 19th century print

18 November 2019

The British Museum has added this rare hand-coloured lithograph to its two-million-strong print collection after securing it at an auction in west London.

img_26-5.jpg

The railway that carried escaped slaves to freedom

18 November 2019

Sporting a distinctive hairstyle and beard that the cataloguer suggested “…would never again be replicated until early 21st-century Brooklyn”, the photograph below was part of a slavery and abolition-themed lot sold for $80,000 (£64,725) in an Americana sale held in New York by Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on September 25.

img_53-2.jpg

Pupil follows master’s example

18 November 2019

It is no coincidence that a glass bowl designed by Carl Witzmann (1883-1952), which was sold at Dr Fischer (28% buyer’s premium) in Heilbronn on October 19, reminded bidders of works by the great Austrian designer Josef Hoffmann. Witzmann was, after all, one of his pupils.

News

Categories