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An unusual Chinese School picture of a 17th century Dutch missionary scene led Christie’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) £2m sale of topographical pictures in London.

British art specialist Patricia Jordan Evans rounds off more than four decades in the trade with her next show called 'The Last Hurrah! 45 Years at Bohun Gallery'.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period January 8-16, 2019. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Exotic blades from all parts of the world are making headlines in the salerooms. Recent auctions have produced some interesting results from unlooked-for places, but none was less expected than the £42,000 paid for a 19th century Siamese niello and silver-gilt mounted sword in the Japanese taste at Thomas Del Mar (24% buyer’s premium) in London on December 5.

Three modestly valued works sold in regional sales.

Following the fall of Seringapatam in India on May 4, 1799, portions of the spoils were variously allocated to senior officers of the British force.

An English School painting depicting one of the earliest venues in cricket was knocked down at £14,000 in a Winchester auction.

Once breech-loading guns became the norm, the gun itself was only one part of the equation. Ammunition was the great variable, as demonstrated by the advertising display boards produced in large numbers for the gun shops and ironmongers of the United Kingdom.

Many weapons have to remain silent witnesses to the conflicts in which they took part, so there is always extra interest in arms which can be linked directly to a particular soldier or battle.

MADAM – Bearing in mind that auctioneering can be a university qualification (unlike dealing) and is an occupation that charges for its services, should there not be some form of censure and control over firms that get it so wrong?

MADAM – I totally agree with the comments made by Eddie Holt (‘Spectacularly wrong valuations? No thanks’, Letters, ATG No 2376) regarding valuations given by ‘experts’.

This 3ft 2in (97cm) high Roman marble statue of draped female form with a lyre, representing the Greek muse Euterpe, dates from the 2nd-3rd century AD.

Sales of ski posters have long been a seasonal feature of the auction scene scheduled for those winter months when enthusiasts take to the slopes.

Fees charged by auctioneers, from buyer’s premium to condition reports, have been a hot topic in the pages of ATG and on social media recently. One reader contacted us regarding the move by a West Midlands auction house to charge winning bidders who have used the phone the same fee as online buyers.

It was not a vintage season for armour in the salerooms, but in Thomas Del Mar’s (24% buyer’s premium) auction on December 5 this very original English or Flemish close helmet of c.1560 reached £11,000.

Eight examples of beautiful bindings feature in a selection from recent auctions held across the world.

The sale of a family collection of British and American art and antiques assembled by three successive generations of South Carolina enthusiasts will go under the hammer through Childress Gaffney auctions in Greenville on February 9.

MADAM – I refer to your Brexit article (‘No deal warning for CITES-listed items’, ATG No 2376).

Two suits of armour that emerged in recent auctions at Continental salerooms.

A recently released new film about the relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, one in which certain historical liberties appear to have been taken concerning the generally accepted belief that the two women never actually met, brings a topicality to a letter offered last month in London.