Auctioneers

Texas-based fine art and collectables specialist Heritage Auctions announced a number of new developments to its mobile app last month. Advances included one-touch mobile bidding and an extension to the barcode scanning facility for coins.

An iconographic gold ring – perhaps once belonging to a bishop or senior member of the clergy in the Yorkshire area – sold for £7100 at Hansons (20% buyer’s premium) in Etwall, Derbyshire.

And still the lofts and attics of UK homes play their part in the lucrative China trade… A c.1800 Imperial yellow cushion cover was one example offered at Trevanion & Dean (19% buyer’s premium) in Whitchurch.

Roman and 20th century poetry, science and sarcasm, Arctic printing, Mayan discoveries, cranes and a porcupine, as well as a miniature master of calligraphy all featured in one of the first large London book sales of the year.

A selection of stand-out lots in upcoming sales.

A previously unrecorded painting attributed to Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, the Italian Old Master known as il Guercino (1591-1666), has been consigned to Cambridge auction house Cheffins.

A set of five Victorian diamond six-point star brooches sold for £26,000 at Golding Young & Mawer (20% buyer’s premium) on January 24. As each star has a hook fitting and a screw fitting for attachment, the set was probably once part of a suite consisting of frames for a tiara, necklace, earrings and brooches.

Extending from the tip of Manhattan as far north as 42nd Street, this large-scale Map of the City of New York of 1850 identifies by means of symbols and a key the city’s churches, schools, hotels, public buildings, parks, cemeteries and other places of interest.

The December 6 jewellery sale at Roseberys (23% buyer’s premium) was the maiden auction for new head of department Mark Bowis.

Launched in 1965, TV Century 21 featured the work of some of the best comic artists of the day – among them Ron Turner, whose contributions included strips featuring The Daleks, Stingray and Captain Scarlet.

Two exceptionally rare celestial globes or spheres have made their mark in Geneva and London salerooms in recent times – and on the same day.

Works on paper, not oil paintings, stole the show at Lawrences (22% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne.

Contemporary jewellery designer Wendy Ramshaw’s earlier work, including her signature ring stacks first made in 1967, is coming back onto the market.

Among the most desirable of all Second World War wristwatches – a strong suit in this currently hot collecting arena – is the Panerai 3646. This distinctive model was initially intended for the Royal Italian Navy but was also used by German submariners or Kampfschwimmer.

Modern and contemporary British art racked up £195,000 at a Roseberys (23% buyer’s premium) sale, with 80% of the 252 lots sold.

Henry Shaw (1812-87) is a well-known name in the world of antique taxidermy.

The history of the Kutchinsky jewellery brand dates back to 1893 – the year Hirsch Kutchinsky and son Morris arrived in the East End of London, having fled Poland.

Traditional ‘country house style’ pictures were in plentiful supply at a two-day sale at Tennants of Leyburn.

More glamorous sales will take place this year, but a week of four quality auctions at Lawrences (22% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne provided some solid reassurance about the state of the middle market.