Auctions

The Arctic Regions, 1873, a sumptuously bound narrative of American artist William Bradford’s seven expeditions to the Arctic, illustrated with 141 mounted albumen photographs, is the highest-estimated lot in the April 20 Swann Galleries photographs and photobooks sale.

In the debate about transparency of auctioneer fees, sparked by the Advertising Standards Authority December 2016 ruling that buyer's premium needs clearer promotion, the point of view of vendors needs to be heard too, three letter writers argue.

At the end of an article penned for the Regional History Society titled Furniture Terminology in Post-Medieval Middle Class Inventories, the late Victor Chinnery wrote that any full glossary on the subject should include, not just furniture, but also pottery, glass, metalwork and architectural fittings.

With this year marking the centenary of the sculptor’s death, Auguste Rodin is much in the news. While the Grand Palais in Paris is marking the event with a major exhibition, Fraysse et Associés sold a 2ft 1in (64cm) high lifetime cast bronze figural group for €1.55m (£1.35m) at Drouot on March 22.

Included among the objects section of many sales featuring oak and vernacular material there are often examples of early metalware.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period March 23-29, 2017. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

From minimalist lamp to starry chandelier

London sale offers ground-breaking grammatical studies from 16th and 17th centuries.

MADAM – I was amused to read in the Previews section of ATG No 2285 that the “star” in Locke & England’s March 30 sale would be a large organ clock, estimated at £3000-5000 (lot 100). This is certainly not the case.

For many centuries the German city of Nuremberg was a major centre for glass decoration.

Two pieces of early oak furniture deaccessioned from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York far outstripped modest expectations when offered for sale in California last month. The two tersely catalogued lots – both bequeathed to the museum in 1964 – appeared at Clars in Oakland on March 18. They sold to New York buyers.

Calculations and notes predicting the orbit of what at the time was a newly discovered and very large asteroid, Juno, brought a bid of £7000 at Bonhams (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on March 1.