US

Man Ray’s 'Le Violon d’Ingres' has set a new record for a photograph, selling for $10.5m (£8m) at Christie’s in New York.

Underlining the recovery of the post-covid art market, at the very top-end at least, the latest series of 20th and 21st century auctions in New York posted a record total for a flagship auction fortnight.

In Massachusetts, auction firm Skinner (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) held the first of a series of sales given over to the carpet collection of Jim Dixon with an online session from April 25-May 6 and a live sale on May 4.

Estimated at just $200-300, this folding map of the island of Antigua proved rather more expensive than expected.

Auction houses will no longer be legally required to publicise guarantees on artworks sold in New York City when a repeal of business regulations goes ahead next month.

Christie’s flagship sales of Modern and Contemporary art in New York produced a running total of $1.25bn (£1.02m) including premium from four evening auctions last week.

Alchemical work is best-seller as Vishniac lots create a valuable mix in the saleroom

In what was the auction house’s most successful sale ever in financial terms, and one that boasted a 97% selling rate, a March 4 sale at Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) was led at $65,000 (£49,240) by a 'Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen’s Captivity from the Time of his Being Taken by the British, near Montreal… in 1775, to the Time of his Exchange…in May 1778'.

An historically significant document dating from 1785 and a previously unrecorded campaign handbill concerning the election that saw Thomas Jefferson become the third US president were highlights of a February 17 sale at Freeman’s (26/20/12% buyer’s premium).

Specialist toy sales held in April on either side of the Atlantic have yielded some notable prices for items from two specific categories: toys relating to Popeye and a collection of toy boats.

Two upcoming lots at US book auctions.

The six lots described here are drawn from a hugely successful sale of comics and comic art held in Dallas by Heritage (20% buyer’s premium) over four days, from April 7-10.

Strawser auction group holds a three-day sale series in Indiana on May 25 & 27-28.

If social media makes you feel like Big Brother is watching you, and if truth occasionally feels stranger than fiction, then like many bibliophiles you might be exploring books that suggest models for society and the role of the individual.

Jason Nazmiyal is the founder of Nazmiyal Collection in New York and specialises in turn-of-the-century antique and vintage rugs and carpets.

The Bizen ware of Kaneshige Tōyō (1896-1967) and the Hagi ware of Miwa Kyūwa (1895-1981) star at 'Branching Out', an exhibition at Joan B Mirviss of New York.