Auctions

Letter from German mathematician to English scholar takes £14,000 in Edinburgh saleroom

An eastern European picture that commanded bidding at a recent UK regional auction was a trademark painting by Polish artist Jan Lebenstein (1930-99).

Our selection of lots from seven upcoming UK and Irish auctions

While mustard pots and caddy spoons made up much of the silver smallwork in Anderson & Garland’s (25% buyer’s premium) silver sale on November 28 (see ATG No 2619), it did also contain one notable example of a Dutch miniature.

A couple of headline lots, a scattering of rare and unusual pictures and one of the most valuable consignments of prints ever offered lifted the latest series of Old Master auctions in London.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions taking place via thesaleroom.com

The small German beakers known as monatsbecher (‘month beakers’) were made in sets of a dozen: one for each month of the year.

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.

Held by the same private New England family since 1792, a copy of 'A Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean' complete with its map came for sale at Bonhams Skinner (28/26/20% buyer’s premium).

Few people can profess to know more about the 1910-12 Japanese Antarctic Expedition than the Arizona book dealer Chet Ross.

A group of letters sent from a clipper ship captain in Shanghai during the Second Opium War (1856-60) to his sons in the Charlestown area of Boston resounded with bidders at Merrill’s Auctioneers (21% buyer’s premium) in Williston, Vermont on November 3.

Pictured here are two fine 19th century presentation copies that, unexpectedly, topped sales in South Cerney and Cambridge in October.

Dealer Daniel Hadden is hoping for an early Christmas present with the sale of two tree decorations that once belonged to Queen Victoria.

Among the many highlights of the Alan and Simone Hartman collection at Bonhams New York is a copy of the monumental catalogue of the famed Bishop collection of Chinese jades. The deluxe volume, once owned by the last tsar of Russia, carries expectations of $100,000-150,000 as part of the 114-lot dispersal on December 14.

Although originally trained as a goldsmith, Dirck Van Rijswijck (1596-1679) developed his own characteristic style using less rarefied material.