Auctions

Fans of Lord Snooty and his Pals, Big Eggo, Morgyn the Mighty and dear Contrary Mary were drawn to the Comic Book Auctions sale of September 13 by the appearance of a good copy of the very first issue of the Beano.

Florence’s longstanding Antiques Fair, the ‘Biennale Internationale dell’ Antiquariato di Firenze’, opens next week in the city’s 17th century Palazzo Corsini, running from September 26 to October 4.

Estimated at £2000-3000 in the printed catalogue, this Italian casket drew such pre-sale interest that it was quickly upgraded in the online catalogue to £5000-7000.

The Law Commission is still keen to hear from collectors and dealers about the impact a legal definition of ‘antique firearm’ may have on the trade in period weapons.

Phillips are to begin-streaming their sales live on eBay’s platform for upmarket auctions of fine art and antiques.

Exeter saleroom Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood will offer a well-provenanced oil by John Constable (1776-1837) in their October 6 fine art sale.

Items from the estate of Mary Burkett, former director of Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal, attracted great excitement and plenty of competition at Mitchells of Cockermouth last week.

Victoria Borwick MP has pledged to lobby against possible changes in legislation that could adversely affect the art and antiques trade, telling the industry to “see me as your champion in parliament”.

Christie’s have announced a major highlight for the upcoming New York auction series. They are offering Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu couché (Reclining Nude) which they have estimated at in excess of $100m.

Fancy spending thousands of pounds on a lovely lump of vomit?

Size and value often have an inverse relationship in the antiques world where small can be beautiful.

This recently rediscovered painting of Sir Winston Churchill by Walter Sickert (1860-1942) will be offered for sale for the first time at the 20/21 British Art Fair.

Sent for auction by a local lady who had been gifted it some 20 years ago, a late 19th century Koran ensured that the latest book sale at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood was their most successful ever.

The medal group awarded to the captain of the Lusitania on its final voyage, William Turner, is on offer at Lockdales of Ipswich, Suffolk.

Among the highlights of the current Wilkes & Curtis auction is a Fatimid gold dinar from the reign of the Caliph al-Hakim (AD996-1021).

South Pacific war clubs continue to strike high prices at auctions, as this Tongan example sold in Stafford this month shows.

The UK government has placed a temporary export bar on the earliest known on-the-spot depiction of Niagara Falls which sold at Christie’s South Kensington earlier this year.

West Sussex auctioneers Bellmans enjoyed considerable success on August 5, with a single-owner collection of around 30 Indian and Tibetan bronzes collected by a private vendor in the 1960s.

Dealers, collectors and auctioneers of antique firearms are being invited to a meeting in London to discuss proposed changes to the law governing the sale and ownership of such weapons.

Quite possibly the largest sale of Derbyshire blue john ever held is going under the hammer at Fellows of Birmingham.