Sotheby's

Six-hundred rare books, manuscripts and prints which were lost or stolen from a German library during the Second World War have been returned after they were consigned to Sotheby’s.

Old Master picture dealer Mark Weiss has agreed an out-of-court settlement with Sotheby’s in the case of a $10m painting the auction house believed to be a forgery.

A new record for any item sold in an online-only sale at Sotheby’s was set when the Nobel Memorial Prize for Economic Science awarded to Friedrich von Hayek (1899-1982) sold for £950,000.

A Chinese gilt bronze figure bought at a garage sale and appraised on PBS’s Antiques Roadshow sold yesterday in New York for $1.7m (£1.3m) – around 21 times its upper estimate and more than 17,000 times its original purchase price.

Sotheby's March 20 Made in Britain auction featured a selection of paintings, works on paper, prints, photography, contemporary and studio ceramics and design by British artists. Among the photographs were unusual images of the queen, fashion model Kate Moss and actor Bill Nighy.

The art market focus in the Big Apple at the moment is on Asian works as Manhattan’s galleries and major auction houses stage the latest edition of ‘Asia Week New York’.

It is not quite a full house in a game of cards, but Sotheby’s Made in Britain auction has dealt three ‘queens’ alongside works by British artists including David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, Dame Lucie Rie, Mary Fedden and Beryl Cook.

Sotheby’s is to offer what it deems “the most important work of William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s celebrated career” as part of the Impressionist & Modern art evening sale in New York on May 14.

Sotheby’s held its very first auction on March 11, 1744, and today it is celebrating this 275-year milestone with the opening of an exhibition detailing its history in pictures.