Germany

Codes are there to be broken, as the Second World War British team at Bletchley Park proved by cracking the German Enigma machines.

The pictorial spread and designer binding shown here feature in a work by the celebrated French-Swiss architect and designer, Le Corbusier.

Bought by a German collector for €115,000 (£99,140) at an auction in Cologne, a 15th century illustrated account of 'Leben der Heiligen Altväter', or ‘Lives of the Holy Fathers’, was a great rarity.

The inscription London on the barrels of this pair of 19th century, silver-mounted flintlock pistols is entirely spurious.

The chain of artistic influences that led to the decoration of a gold-enamel watch made by John Kenable of Frith Street in London in c.1800 can be traced back to 1766.

Russian works of art are coming up for sale at Dr Fischer in Heilbronn on May 17.

The painter Franz Roubaud (1856-1928) was born in Odessa of French parents and studied painting at the local academy and for several years in Munich. He made a name for himself with huge panoramic paintings and battle scenes.

Short message to a ‘true friend’ after opera debut appearance sells at Berlin auction house.

It is thought that the prestigious Meissen designer Johann Joachim Kaendler drew the inspiration for his teapot in the form of a reclining cockerel from a Chinese model he found in the royal collection in Dresden.

The German artist Heinrich Zille (1858-1929) was known for his caricatures and humorous and sometimes very blunt portrayals of the lower classes and demi-monde in Berlin around the beginning of the 20th century: his so-called milieu-studies.

On May 17, Cologne auction house Lempertz is selling 115 bronze mortars from the 8th-18th centuries.

Modern British ceramics are rarely offered by German auction houses. Among the notable exceptions is the Kunst & Design Auktionshaus Schops Turowski, based in Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia.

As a rule, Lempertz (24/20% buyer’s premium) in Cologne always opens its spring season with a sale of moderately priced Old Master and 19th century paintings.

This highly elaborate chest of drawers decorated in boulle marquetry technique with a variety of different figural and foliate motifs featured in the furniture session of a sale at Hampel (29.5% buyer’s premium) in Munich on March 28.

Philippe Fortuné Durand is regarded as the first professional photographer in France.

A very rare gold coin took top honours at the auction held by Künker (23% buyer’s premium) in Berlin on January 31.

Two iron padlocks caught the eye of numerous bidders at the February 28 sale at Wendl (18% buyer’s premium) in Rudolstadt.

Through his numerous inventions, the Parisian craftsman Julien Leroy (1686-1759) is credited with revitalising the art of clock and watch making in the French capital and throughout the country.

Contrary to popular opinion, the name of the Rock-Ola company of Chicago, which became famous for the production of distinctive jukeboxes, has no connection to rock ’n’ roll. It is in fact a fortuitous coincidence that the firm’s founder was actually called David Cullen Rockola.