Auctions

At their country house sale on July 10 in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex auctioneers Sworders will include 11 lots from the collection of Mary Jakeman, a lady’s maid to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his wife at the turn of the 20th century.

ROUND UP: The highlight of the latest silver sale held by Dreweatts of Donnington Priory was this George I Britannia standard chocolate cup.

As all Märklin boats were available with a variety of names and flags (trade buyers could choose these details prior to placing an order), it seems safe to assume this ocean liner named Deutschland was made for the home market.

Setting a record for the artist and making one the highest prices ever seen for a British picture, John Constable's ‘The Lock’ took £20m at Christie’s evening sale on July 3.

Only the day after a specialist sale at Bonhams, the June 29 auction at Strides of Chichester included two 3 x 2in (7 x 5.5cm) watercolour-on-vellum portraits by greats of the Commonwealth/Carolean age that trumped anything seen on Bond Street.

The Madoura Collection lived up to its billing as the single most important sale dedicated to Picasso ceramics ever held when it went under the hammer at Christie’s South Kensington.

Highly lucrative totals, a record sale and a selection of unprecedented prices seen for individual artists – the Contemporary art market seemed to carry on regardless in London last week.

What has been a rich summer season of American book and manuscript sales culminated when Christie’s New York saw a record for any American book or historical document.

Pictures, books and ephemera from the Great Tew estate in Oxfordshire will be offered for sale at Holloway’s in Banbury on July 10.

Bonhams have integrated Lalique back into their broader mix of 20th century design auctions.

Lalique glass is one of those areas that has an international appeal with the best pieces selling strongly wherever they crop up.

The attractions of variations from run-of-the-mill ceramics extends to all factories, and the recent sale of a Royal Doulton 'Nelson' jug showed how the presence of a rare backstamp mark can increase the value of an item 100 times over.

A highlight at Fieldings Auctioneers’ July 7 sale in Stourbridge is a box containing personal effects reputed to have belonged to Captain William Kidd, the well-known Scottish sailor who was convicted of piracy and hanged in London on May 23, 1701.

Richard Winterton Auctioneers of Lichfield, Staffordshire will be offering for sale on July 5 a corporate collection of original artwork to include works by Vida Gabor, Jean Chaleye, Sue Ryder and Byron Howard among others.

A collection of Cornish Troika pottery will go under the hammer at Lawrences of Crewkerne, Somerset at their three-day, mixed-discipline sale on July 3, 5 and 6.

Among the star attractions at Bloomsbury Auction’s ‘Urban Contemporary’ sale, a 120-lot auction held on July 3 in Mayfair, London is ‘Moona Lisa’, a unique rendition in gold by Bristol-based artist Nick Walker.

Lockdales of Ipswich are probably best known as coin and militaria specialists but, having moved premises earlier this year, they have also offered some stand-out items in their fine art and antiques sales in 2012.

Back in early 2010 when an Apple I computer sold on eBay for $50,000 it was regarded by the vintage computer fraternity as a gross over-valuation – but by December 2010 another had fetched £110,000 in a Christie’s book sale.

ROUND UP: The pick of three lots of classic jewellery at Sotheby’s latest antiquities sale in New York from the collection built by Jan Mitchell was this 4th century BC Greek gold wreath of two olive branches bound with shoots of ribbed leaves and berries.

Seldom appearing at auction, this very rare English, Longton Hall porcelain figure of Guanyin, c.1750 will be offered at Chorley’s June 28, ceramics-focused sale in Gloucestershire.