Freeman's

Phillips has appointed Jean-Paul Engelen to the newly created role of president, Americas. In addition, he will continue as worldwide co-head of 20th century and Contemporary art.

Running to just 20 or so words, a tiny signed card in which Abraham Lincoln instructs Edwin Stanton to meet with the African-American abolitionist and officer Martin Delany in Washington led the bidding at Doyle (26/21/15% buyer’s premium) on September 23.

A look at recent new roles across salerooms.

On October 25 Philadelphia firm Freeman’s will offer the Alexander Hamilton collection of John E Herzog.

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

Charles Carroll’s printed copy of the Declaration of Independence – discovered earlier this year in a Scottish family home – sold at auction in Philadelphia for $3.7m (£2.85m) plus premium.

In 1820 the then US Secretary of State John Quincy Adams commissioned William J Stone to produce a facsimile of the original 'Declaration of Independence'.

This typewritten draft of a letter from President Kennedy to Winston Churchill, with annotated amendments by JFK, will feature in the auction of Books and Manuscripts to be held by Freeman’s in Philadelphia on May 20.

Published in Paris, a 1613 first edition of a pioneering American exploration work sold for $160,000 (£114,285) in Philadelphia.

An evocative interior scene by one of the founding members of the Vienna Secession movement set a landmark price at Freeman’s of Philadelphia.

There were, inevitably, a few copies of Charles Dickens’ much-loved tale, 'A Christmas Carol', on offer at auction as the big day approached.

Carl Moll (1861-1945) was one of the founding members of the Vienna Secession movement. On February 23 in its sale of European Art and Old Masters, Freeman’s of Philadelphia will offer a painting by him that has been in the same family since it was acquired in Germany in the early 1920s.

Bid to a double-estimate and record $24,000 (£18,460) at Freeman’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) of Philadelphia on October 14 was a complete and well-preserved example of publisher John Bell’s great Poets of Great Britain… collection.

A single leaf from a Gutenberg Bible that sold for a higher than expected $65,000 (£50,980) in a Philadelphia sale this autumn.

On October 21, Freeman’s in Philadelphia will mark Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday by offering a collection of 12 portrait bronzes of the composer by French sculptor Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929).

This three-piece painted cast-iron garden seating set dated to the third quarter of the 19th century is one of the lots from the Collection of A Connecticut Gentleman that is to be offered for sale by Freeman’s of Philadelphia, on September 15.