Auctions

These two small paintings on silk are by the Vietnamese artist Mai Trung Thu.

Very much to current collecting taste is the 6½in (16.5cm) ‘peach bloom’ saucer dish shown here, offered by Batemans (20% buyer’s premium) on July 3.

Set of tools was designed specifically to take apart rather than create fine textiles

Mallams’ (25% buyer’s premium) latest Asian art sale was topped at £27,000 (estimate £3000-5000) by a Qing jade double gourd form snuff bottle.

William Billingsley (1758-1828), a key figure in the history of both English and Welsh porcelain, left the Derby factory in 1795 yearning to create the finest, whitest and most translucent porcelain.

Vibrant colours, good subject and intriguing composition helped to spark a bidding competition for a painting by George Leslie Hunter (1877-1931).

It was third time lucky for a painting by Scottish artist Alexander Mann (1853-1908) at Cheffins’ (24.5% buyer’s premium) fine art sale in Cambridge.

A high price for Scottish painter Ethel Walker (1861-1951) came at Sworders’ (25% buyer’s premium) sale of the Sally Hunter and Ian Posgate collection.

A group of bird books were a feature of a sale held by Thomson Roddick (18% buyer’s premium) in Carlisle.

The top-priced lot in a Prunier Auctions’ (27% buyer’s premium) sale of Haute Epoque or early works of art held proved to be the 14th century ivory casket pictured here.

ATG’s pick of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com, featuring both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Found in the garden room of a local property among a stack of other pictures, this unsigned oil on canvas had a distinct resemblance to portraits by Allan Ramsay (1713-84).

Toucans were the avian best-sellers in a recent sale held by Freeman’s (26/20/12% buyer’s premium) of Philadelphia.

Besch Cannes Auction is holding a sale series in Cannes from August 13-16.

Aficionados of later Chinese porcelain who happened to stumble on a lot of ‘collector’s plates’ at Unique Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium) in Lincoln would have been excited to spot two fine artist-signed Republic period pieces.

Two views of children in flowery fields, both by Scottish artists, were among the works drawing competition at Woolley & Wallis’ (25/12% buyer’s premium).

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

The centrepiece of a sell-out 762-lot toy sale held by Milestone (20% buyer’s premium) was a collection formed by Margaret and Joel Weissmann.

Swann’s sale of vintage posters in New York on August 5 will include this poster from 1919 designed by Charles Loupot to advertise Mekka cigarettes.

This small Transitional porcelain vase came for sale at Gardiner Houlgate (22% buyer’s premium) in Corsham, Bath, on July 1.