Auctions

It was rather thin pickings at the latest series of Old Master auctions in London.

The major summer sales of works of art included a boxwood prayer nut and Rothschild provenanced vases.

Despite appearing in a 1930s photograph held in the MAK Museum, Vienna, this wood carving of Adam and Eve seems to have hitherto eluded scholars of the German woodcarver Leonhard Kern (1588-1662).

Topping the bill at Dore & Rees in Frome, Somerset on July 6 was this 2in (5cm) archaeological revival brooch by Castellani.

Pictured here is one of two very successful lots relating to the career of Houdini that were sold in a Chicago auction.

A good number of lots offered at Great Western Auctions (24% buyer’s premium) on June 17-18 demonstrated the demand that can emerge for works on paper pitched at attractive levels.

The queen’s menacing message to Protestant courtiers makes an auction appearance

ATG’s pick of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com, featuring both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Thomas Sandby’s (1721-98) architectural drawings are significant part of the artist’s oeuvre.

An ancient Egyptian cartonnage Mummy mask was the top-selling lot in an auction of Antiquities held by Hindman (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) in Chicago.

Butterscotch in New York is holding its summer estates auction on July 17.

Offered as part of a New York sale held by Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) were the two imaginative aerial views reproduced here.

Among the 20th century works on paper generating demand at regional sales in the last few months was a Keith Vaughan (1912-77) study of a group of bathers.

For collectors on a budget, works on paper can provide a more accessible route to acquiring works by key artists.

Single-owner group offers 007 toys and gadgets mainly from the Sean Connery era

This mid-20th century illusionist apparatus will feature in Potter & Potter’s latest Magic sale when it auctions the lifetime collection of Jim Deloach in Chicago on July 16.

Swann Auction Galleries is holding a sale of vintage posters in New York on August 4.

The market for drawings and watercolours, both modern and traditional, has long been regarded as delicate ground – sensitive towards estimates, market freshness and condition.

Compared to oil paintings and watercolours, drawings by the Scottish Colourists seem to appear less often at auction.