Auctions

News and previews of art and antiques sold at auctions throughout the UK and overseas, from multi-million-pound blockbusters to affordable collectables.


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Heroic diver's Rolex watch featured on Antiques Roadshow comes to Norfolk auction

01 May 2023

A 1963 Rolex Submariner 5513 that was featured on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow last year is to be offered for auction at TW Gaze in Diss on May 11.

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Pick of the week: Support band turned out to be The Sex Pistols

01 May 2023

This rare rock and pop poster advertises a performance by ‘Bazooka Joe’ with ‘Support Band’ at the common room of St Martin’s Art School on November 6, 1975. Entrance was 50p.

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Turner and Wilkie turn up at auction

01 May 2023

Drawing four phone bidders plus online, a rediscovered early watercolour of Chepstow Castle by JMW Turner (1775-1851) led Cheffins’ latest fine art sale.

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Maltese bidders write on cue

01 May 2023

Maltese furniture rarely makes it to the international auction market, so it was something of a sensation when a finely decorated, mid-18th century writing cabinet came up for sale at Metz (28% buyer’s premium) in Heidelberg.

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Coral from the coast of Sicily

01 May 2023

Since the 12th century the Sicilian town of Trapani has been closely connected to the art of coral carving. Thanks to the invention of a particular tool, ideally suited to the material, in the 16th century, the industry thrived.

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Norman Hartnell designs for a princess emerge at Richard Winterton

01 May 2023

A group of signed drawings by royal fashion designer Norman Hartnell (1901-79) was offered at Richard Winterton (22% buyer’s premium) on February 15.

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Queen Victoria watercolours snapped up by royal trust

01 May 2023

A sketch book filled with drawings by Queen Victoria will be joining more than 4000 pieces of her art at the Royal Collection Trust.

UK still holds its own despite overseas focus

01 May 2023

Once the centre of the Asian art trade, and still the repository for some of the most knowledgeable dealers on the subject, the London market has weakened in recent years.

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Auspicious aspects of vase for sale from a private collector

01 May 2023

The Asian art sale at Halls in Shrewsbury on May 11 features this 10½in (27cm) pink ground famille rose vase.

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Boxwood netsuke deer among lots at Lyon & Turnbull

01 May 2023

The sale of Asian art at Lyon & Turnbull in London on May 16 includes this late Edo or Meiji period boxwood netsuke of a recumbent deer signed Masakiyo.

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Live it up in mock Tudor

01 May 2023

A doublet and hose worn by the Earl of Abergavenny at the coronation of George IV in 1821 came to auction in Nottinghamshire.

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Jewellery given ‘by Edward to Wallis’

01 May 2023

A 1920s-30s platinum and 18ct gold french diamond and emerald bracelet and a ring said to have been given by Edward VIII to Wallis Simpson sold for £42,000 (guide £25,000-35,000).

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Webb depicts majesty of Greenwich Palace in smaller form

01 May 2023

Born into a family of artists, James Webb (c.1825-95) became a prolific painter primarily of landscapes, seascapes and river scenes depicting locations around England and Wales as well as the Netherlands, France, Italy and southern Spain.

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Guanyin on hand thanks to a noted collector

01 May 2023

This rare 2ft 7in (78cm) high white marble stele depicting the Buddhist goddess Guanyin predates was carved in the Northern Qi dynasty, (550-577AD), around the time of the Sutton Hoo hoard.

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Spotlight on the Tomkinson collection

01 May 2023

This special edition of A Japanese Collection (1898) by Michael Tomkinson (1841-1921) is one of the first 25 copies printed on Indian paper and is signed and dedicated by the author to his daughter Dora.

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Dressed to impress with a tassel

01 May 2023

The dress tassels pictured here came to auction from the archives of Henry Newbery & Co.

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Get your teeth into this royal memorabilia

01 May 2023

A Cambridge auction included a Buckingham Palace note-card scribbled on with pencil drawings by a young Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret.

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The 500th and final edition of a very special Endymion

01 May 2023

Illustrator John Buckland-Wright’s own specially bound and annotated copy of the 1947, Golden Cockerel Press edition of John Keats’ Endymion topped a sale.

British and Irish book auctions: May 2-18, 2023

01 May 2023

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions

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Wucai wine cups bring flower power

01 May 2023

This pair of wucai floral wine cups have Guangxu marks and are of the period (1875-1908).

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