Auctions

Explorer and naval captain George Vancouver set sail from King’s Lynn in April 1791 aboard HMS Discovery to survey the Pacific Northwest coastline of North America.

The top lot at Leonard Auction’s (25% buyer’s premium) December 10 sale in Addison, Illinois, was a work by the Argentinian Op artist Hugo Rodolfo Demarco (1932-95).

Among the most contested lots at Nadeau’s (23% buyer’s premium) sale on January 1 was a set of miniature watercolour and gouache portraits credited to a follower of the German court painter Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553).

This smiling tabby cat formed part of an extensive collection of Scottish Wemyss Ware sold at Lyon & Turnbull.

A somewhat innocuous-looking lot at Hansons (26% buyer’s premium) proved to be anything but as a number of eagle-eyed bidders spotted a significant discovery contained therein.

The desire by top museums to buy works by under-represented groups, including women and minority ethnic artists, has led to two new auction records in the US.

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.

The bright blue iridescent feathers of the kingfisher have been used to decorate objects and jewellery and items of personal adornment for over 2000 years in China, where the birds are also known as jade or jadeite birds.

Our regular listing of books auctions

Our selection of lots from eight upcoming UK auctions