News topics

A small but enigmatic study attributed to Victorian artist Matthew Ridley Corbet (1850-1902) drew dramatic competition at John Nicholson’s in Fernhurst, Surrey.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period July 19-August 1 2018. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

On the day that the Bastille was stormed Louis XVI famously recorded “rien” (nothing) in his game book.

One of the earlier big attractions of the new season will be the September 18-19 auction at Sotheby’s of the Erwin Tomash library on the history of computing.

The set of flicker books published c.1930 titled 'Drive and Mashie', 'Brassie and Iron' and 'Out the Rough and Putt', were once used as teaching aids for golfers.

Two French corkscrews were the top lots of Henry Aldridge & Son’s auction of the first tranche of a single-owner collection of around 450 examples.

A rare and early combination of a war hammer and pistol was a highlight of the Bonhams (25/12.5% buyer’s premium) sale in Knightsbridge on May 23, selling for £24,000.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from August 7-18, 2018.

The top lot at Bonhams (25/12.5% buyer’s premium) in San Francisco on June 19 was an exceptional cased example of a specially engraved Colt 1851 percussion revolver with shoulder stock.

Signed in gold to the 10in (25cm) damascus barrels Manton London, the best-known name among London gunsmiths, a cased pair of 25-bore flintlock duelling pistols led the specialist arms and armour sale held by Antony Cribb (22% buyer’s premium) at Abingdon on July 24.

“I would say in the short term it hasn’t put buyers off but I don’t have a crystal ball so I don’t know what the future will hold.” Auctioneer Henry Meadows’ take on the forthcoming ivory ban will be shared by many a regional auctioneer in the wake of summer sales.

The classic English sporting gun is a sidelock, but for many the ‘round-action’ shotguns perfected by John Dickson of Edinburgh in the 1870s are the most elegant of all.

A 3 x 5in (7cm x 13cm) miniature watercolour on ivory offered for sale at Toovey’s (plus 24.5% buyer’s premium) in Washington, West Sussex, recalls a small but significant moment in the history of British zoology.

It took a bid of €60,000 (£53,100) to secure a pair of flintlock pistols of c.1730 from the armoury of the Princes of Lobkowitz at Hermann Historica (25% buyer’s premium) in Munich in May.

Ivory frames to this 18th century wooden box, below, with tortoiseshell panels, did nothing to hold back bidding on currently hugely popular Indo-Portuguese material.

Demand for Scottish artist with a ‘distinctive personality’ drives a good auction result in Somerset.

A very suitable buyer emerged for an 19th century picture of The Artists Rifles by John Evan Hodgson (1831-95) offered in Exeter.

The owner of a rediscovered painting attributed to Giotto has lost a High Court battle over its export from the EU.

This small 7 x 91/2in (18 x 24cm) oil on panel Biblical scene by the Victorian artist William Edward Frost (1810-77), below, doubled its top guide at Peter Francis (20% buyer’s premium) of Carmarthen on July 11.