News topics

One of the earliest surviving incandescent light bulbs, made by the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) in the 1870s, sold for £7500 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Bonhams’ sale titled Instruments of Science and Technology.

What still feels to many like the opening month of a new season got off to an excellent start with some serious, if occasionally unexpected, five-figure bids at four major provincial salerooms.

In the past, pictures by talented but obscure female artists were given short shrift on the secondary market. Now all that is changing.

Two contrasting marine scenes, encapsulating the unpredictable nature of the sea, were offered at a recent sale at Mitchells (20% buyer’s premium) of Cockermouth in Cumbria.

The art and antiques trade celebrated a victory in the US after the Trump administration dropped plans for an import tax of 25% on art and antiques of Chinese origin.

Three modestly valued works in regional sales, all sold below £1000 including a watercolour of a North African market scene by Hercules Brabazon Brabazon.

Gracing the catalogue cover of Whyte’s Irish & International Art auction in Dublin on October 1 is this work by Séan Keating (1889-1977).

Two early examples of Indo- Portuguese furniture sold for five-figure sums at auction this month.

A large panel painting by the Flemish artist Frans Francken II (1581-1642) is to appear at Ivoire Troyes’ Auction in France on September 29.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period September 13-19, 2018. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Our round-up of British and Irish book sales coming up from September 25-October 6, 2018.

Portraiture was not the preferred genre of the Valencian artist Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923), but early in his career he recognised its value as a reliable source of income and persisted with it throughout his lifetime.

Proof of a burgeoning market, a series of stellar results for British studio pottery were posted at the ‘Made in Britain’ sale conducted by Sotheby’s on Bond Street.

For most enthusiasts of Airfix’s plastic construction kits, it was the company’s dramatic box artwork that caught the eye when choosing the next model to make.

MADAM – The views expressed by your correspondents Louise Ravula and Jane Alexandra (ATG No 2359) cannot be allowed to stand unchallenged.

Bigger could mean better at the UK’s largest coin fair this year. Celebrating its 40th year, Coinex 2018 is in a larger venue and has more exhibitors.