Auctions

In response to the exhibition of The Lock at the Royal Academy in 1824, The Morning Post wrote: “Mr Constable contributes a landscape composition which for depth, sparkling light, freshness and vigorous effect, exceeds any of his works.” Christie’s will offer the picture for sale as part of their Old Master & British Paintings evening sale on July 3.

The small Wiltshire firm Jubilee Auction Rooms – opened in the Queen’s Golden Jubilee year in 2002 and soon to move to larger premises in Pewsey – received inquiries from all over the world when it emerged they had unearthed a remarkable jewel-decorated flask by William Burges (1827-81) in a routine house clearance.

The auction business often runs counter-cyclical to wider economic fortunes, so it’s no great surprise that the strong results posted in 2011 by many of Britain’s regional auctioneers have been mirrored across the Atlantic.

London auctioneers Morton & Eden, in association with Sotheby’s, have included in their May 31 sale this silver medal awarded to a steward aboard the RMS Carpathia for his help in rescuing passengers from the Titanic.

A collection of work by the late Sid Pollard, a well-known Yorkshire furniture maker, will go under the hammer at Addison’s sale in Barnard Castle, County Durham, on June 2.

What may be a record price for the Poole artist Guy Sydenham was achieved at Cottees of Wareham when a stoneware model of a baby rhinoceros sold for £5000 at their latest sale.

This Victorian achromatic cabinet stereoscope was one of the more unusual offerings among the 540 lots offered at Dee Atkinson & Harrison’s recent sale at Driffield and proved the stand-out seller.

Sold at Sotheby’s in London this week, this Andy Warhol (1928-1987) portrait of Brigitte Bardot was formerly owned by her ex-husband, the German billionaire Gunter Sachs whose collection of art and furniture came to auction following his suicide last year.

A couple of pieces of Staffordshire pottery set the Banbury rooms of Holloway’s buzzing back when online bidding took off.

Duncan Campbell was a remarkable and unconventional dealer. His gallery in Thackeray Street, Kensington, was packed with pretty much anything that caught his eye, whether it was paintings, prints, pottery, furniture, or tribal art.

David Stanley Auctions offered the second part of the collection of woodworking tools formed by David R. Russell, renowned for the rarest and finest Norris planes.

For the second time in three years Middlesex saleroom Bainbridge’s turned up the most talked-about consignment of the recent Asian art sales.

This Chinese export sideboard dating from the late 19th century is estimated to fetch £800-1200 at East Bristol Auctions on May 26.

Around ten pieces of tribal art consigned from a private collection are to be auctioned in Cuttlestones’ mixed-discipline sale in Penkridge, Staffordshire, on May 25.

Entitled Seated Queen, this 19in (50cm) unmarked bronze sculpture by Ralph Brown (b.1928) will go under the hammer at The Cotswold Auction Company’s modern art and design sale in Cheltenham on May 29.

This papal skull cap or zuchetto will feature in the fine art and antiques auction at Peter Francis of Carmarthen on May 29.

A recording of players from Newcastle United and Blackpool discussing the forthcoming 1951 FA Cup Final is being offered by Eighteen Eighteen Auctioneers in Kendal, Cumbria, on May 29.

On May 26 Golding Young & Thomas Mawer will offer for sale the contents of a Lincolnshire antique dealer’s home.

The high point of interest in this spring’s antiquities sales was the Groppi Collection – a single-owner sale at Christie’s South Kensington of ancient Egyptian artefacts.

Two of the greatest offerings of Islamic coins ever have recently been sold in London. The two catalogues – Morton & Eden’s and Baldwin’s – will be useful historical documents for a long time to come.