Auctions

Top prices set for majolica by the French Massier factory at auction in Belgium

The Dutch diplomat, musician, writer and sinologist Robert Hans van Gulik (1910-67), also known as Gao Luopei, was a great admirer of traditional Chinese literati culture.

A portrait miniature previously bought on eBay has been knocked down at an Australian auction for 30-times more than the original price.

A good crop of top-end Impressionist and Modern pictures lifted the latest flagship series of auctions in New York.

A rare 17th century Chinese bronze naval cannon guided at £30,000-50,000 made £165,000 in a Somerset saleroom.

Lynn Chadwick’s (1914-2003) figure sculptures of the 1960s-80s consist largely of angular male and female couples – standing, sitting, walking or lying together.

Vintage Louis Vuitton luggage doesn’t get much better than the 1920s Malle Chaussures: a ‘made to order’ trunk with compartments for multiple pairs of shoes and ancillary drawers for shoehorns and a cleaning kit.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions

The Penguin Bookshelf was a collaboration between Penguin Books and the London furniture-maker Beaver and Tapley. The design was debuted to retailers at the 1955 Furniture Exhibition when something close to 3000 orders were placed.

The Tarleton helmet was named after the dashing but ruthless Sir Banastre Tarleton (1754-1833), who commanded the British Legion during the American War of Independence.

Stellar English, Indian and Turkish pieces are promised at Olympia Auctions on December 6 in west London.

The late 19th century Japanese artist Keika Hasegawa remains something of an enigma.

Maud Lewis (1901-70) is hailed today as one of Canada’s greatest folk artists, with her works regularly bringing tremendous results at auction.

A childhood in Wiltshire partly spent picking up ammunition lying around as a result of the Allied preparations for D-Day helped to spark Alexander Jeremy Peckover Penrose’s (known as Jerry) interest in firearms.

A £2m collection of English country house furnishings from Ombersley Court, a Grade I-listed country house near Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, comes for sale at Christie’s this month.

Stowmarket firm Bishop & Miller holds a timed online sale of 104 picture frames that ends on November 19.

On November 29 Christie’s will offer Ombersley Court: The Collection of Lord and Lady Sandys – a historic collection of an English aristocratic family spanning five centuries.

A pair of clipped tickets to the production of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, sold for $210,000 (£173,500) at RR Auction (25% buyer’s premium) in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 23. It was the night of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

Pictured here are the plates from a 12th or 13th century klivanion (Byzantine armour).