North America

This 12in (30cm) cong form vase with elephant-head handles is decorated in qianjiangcai enamels by Cheng Men (1833-1908) – one of the best known of the late Qing period porcelain painters.

A copy of the 1892 Olympic Manifesto made an auction record for sports memorabilia when it was hammered down for $7.5m (£5.73m).

Comics and comic artwork selling at a very high level were evident in a three-day sale held recently in Dallas.

Darwin and Newton impress in US auction while Adam Smith brings wealthy sums.

A fine-looking copy of the 1931, US first of The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett sold right on the low estimate at $60,000 (£46,875) at Christie’s New York (25/20/13.5% buyer’s premium) to match a previous auction high.

Bruneau closes the year with a December 14 sale of Comics and Toys, for which Travis Landry, its director of pop culture, will join forces with ‘event entertainment company’ Altered Reality Entertainment.

A Japanese Meiji period shibayama inlaid lacquer shodana will feature in the Asian works of art section of Weschler’s Capital Collections auction on December 13 in Rockville, Maryland.

On January 11-12 the specialist doll auction firm Theriault’s will be offering the collection of an American heiress, the late Huguette Clark.

A selection of books relating to conjuring dating back to the 17th century is one of the features of the latest Potter & Potter Magic sale to be held on December 14 in Chicago.

A 1637 first edition of 'New English Canaan…' was one of the homegrown highlights of a sale held by Christie’s New York (25/20/13.5% buyer’s premium).

Possibly dating from the late 16th or early 17th century, a Spanish text manuscript version of Andrea Alciato’s 1531 'Emblemata', the first and most frequently reprinted emblem book, sold for $9000 (£7030) at Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) in New York.

A more recent purchase for the Starrs was this late-18th century, 10¼in (26cm) high, black basalt two handled amphora, from the section of encaustic-decorated wares that were inspired by classical attic vases.

Featured here are three photographic carte de visite portraits of American interest from an historical manuscripts and documents sale held in Dallas by Heritage (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium).

The most expensive piece in Sotheby’s Arnhold sale was a lot that made a dramatic increase on its $4000-6000 estimate. This 7½in (19.5cm) diameter blue and white saucer dish (below) was an early example of blue and white Meissen from c.1721-22 that had Japanese Palace inventory marks.

Original watercolours intended for pioneering, unpublished work are now highly valued