North America

Making its third appearance at auction in almost 60 years, the 34pp autograph manuscript of Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter’, a tale from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes collection of his stories that first appeared in The Strand magazine in 1893, has sold for $280,000 (£236,090) in Dallas.

The latest sale of Clocks, Watches, & Scientific Instruments held by Bonhams Skinner (25% buyer’s premium) included one of perhaps only 50 surviving Tornek-Rayville TR-900 stainless steel dive watches.

English and Continental ‘country house’ offerings are rare in the US but not gone forever

During the administration of Rutherford Hayes, who served as the 19th President of the US from 1877-81, the White House commissioned a dinner service from the Haviland factory in Limoges.

The sale at Nye & Company in Bloomfield, New Jersey, on September 7-8 includes Modern and Contemporary art and sculpture from the David and Laura Finn family collection.

The sales at Poster Auctions International (20% buyer’s premium) in New York regularly include a selection of examples by Alphonse Mucha and its most recent auction was no exception.

Sabena was mainland Europe’s first airline to offer a transatlantic jet service via Boeing 707 and this design by Gaston Van den Eynde is one of a series that he designed to herald the Belgian airline’s jet age.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the French military could feel pretty proud of itself. The dashing style and spirit of their forces in the 19th century often inspired other nations to create copycat units.

Both categories are particularly notable as Mark and Marjorie Allen lots sell in Pennsylvania

US collector tells us why he’s so keen to open a museum displaying his purchases

Collectables firm JG Autographs has started to hold auctions, with the first running online until August 23.

Bianca Cutait has joined Bonhams as a senior specialist for the Post-War & Contemporary art department, based in Miami (also with a focus on Latin America).

Chicago auction house Hindman is offering a portrait of Ira Aldridge (1807-67), the first black Shakespearean actor to gain international recognition.

Bonhams Skinner’s August 13 Americana auction in Massachusetts will feature a wide selection of American, English and Chinese Export works of art and paintings.

Sold for $2m (£1.62m) in a major and hugely successful comics sale held by Heritage (20% buyer’s premium) of Dallas was an original cover artwork produced in 1986 by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley for Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1.

An example of 19th century archaeological revivalist jewellery was one of the best-sellers in the July 8-10 auction at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries (20% buyer’s premium).

A strong price for a porringer that Arts & Crafts designer Charles Robert Ashbee produced for the Guild of Handicraft was achieved in a Decorative Arts auction held in Cincinnati.