Auctions

News and previews of art and antiques sold at auctions throughout the UK and overseas, from multi-million-pound blockbusters to affordable collectables.


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Cézanne’s Apples take $37m – the top pick at Sotheby’s

08 May 2013

Paul Cézanne’s ‘Les pommes’ led the way at Sotheby’s latest evening sale of Impressionist & Modern Art in New York.

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Katz catches a falcon for £950,000

07 May 2013

Standing in the same spot where he had placed the winning £3.25m bid for an Egyptian statue of Isis six months before, London dealer Daniel Katz was again in action at Christie’s South Kensington’s latest antiquities sale.

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For sale: Australia’s first federal banknote

07 May 2013

It has a face value of ten shillings but a price tag of Aus$3.5m (£2.3m) at Coinworks, the specialist dealers and auctioneers of Melbourne.

New saleroom force for Melbourne as Leski merge with Mossgreen

07 May 2013

Two auction houses are joining forces in the latest shake-up to affect the Melbourne scene.

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Ceramics and glass feast for London rooms

07 May 2013

Last week was a busy one for glass and ceramics in the London rooms with five auctions taking place over the space of 48 hours and some bullish prices for top pieces.

Couture cache to be sold off

07 May 2013

Paris auctioneers Gros & Delettrez have announced the sale of 350 lots of haute couture from Danielle Luquet de Saint Germain, muse to the late Yves Saint Laurent in the 1960s, and later an artistic advisor at Dior.

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Rolex watch stirs wartime memories and sells at £24,000

07 May 2013

Fellows’ latest quarterly Vintage & Modern Wristwatch auction included a rare 1940s Rolex Oyster, the so-called ‘monobloc’ chronograph.

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The £460,000 treasure used as a garden step

07 May 2013

One of the highlights of the latest raft of Islamic auctions in London was an unusual half-moon-shaped 10th/11th century granite temple step from Sri Lanka which had spent years in a Devon garden.

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17th century Flemish tapestry in Milton Keynes

01 May 2013

MK Auctions are selling a Flemish verdure tapestry at their sale on May 5.

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Orientalist sale in London packs a big punch

01 May 2013

Featuring only 22 lots, Sotheby’s latest sale of Orientalist art was a small affair but one that definitely packed a big punch.

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Pilot sale sheds light on what Chinese buyers like among Western chattels

30 April 2013

A major new marketplace or simply a case of wishful thinking? That was the question as the Association of Accredited Auctioneers (Triple-A) and their Beijing-based partners, Huachen Auctions, held a much-heralded auction in south east China.

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Further evidence of growing interest in banknotes

29 April 2013

Recent years have seen a massive increase in the offerings and prices realised by banknotes.

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Joseph Wright of Derby sells at £125,000 in West Sussex

29 April 2013

This previously unrecorded late work by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-97), ‘Landscape with Rainbow’, sold for £125,000 at Bellmans in Wisborough Green, West Sussex.

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Ritz discovery sets new record for Le Brun at Christie’s

29 April 2013

The Charles Le Brun oil on canvas discovered hanging in the Paris Hôtel Ritz proved to be the high point of Christie’s latest sale of Old Master and 19th century paintings in Paris.

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Bowl sets new Kangxi record at £5.8m

22 April 2013

A new auction high for Qing Kangxi porcelain was established in Sotheby’s latest spring sale series in Hong Kong.

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Sister Wendy’s collection at auction

22 April 2013

Say the name Sister Wendy Beckett and most people will immediately picture the unique figure of the elderly nun as she tours the world’s art galleries, talking intensely to the TV camera.

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Chinese figure makes £31,000 in Canterbury

22 April 2013

This Chinese gilt-bronze figure of Maitreya dating to the Qing dynasty was among the Asian highlights on offer at The Canterbury Auction Galleries’ latest sale.

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Francis Crick letter revealing DNA sells at $5.3m

22 April 2013

A letter written by pioneering scientist Dr Francis Crick containing what is probably the first description he gave of the discovery of DNA has been sold for a world auction record.

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Will this be the world’s most expensive book?

22 April 2013

Familiarly known as the Bay Psalm Book, one of the finest surviving copies of the first book printed in what is now the USA is expected to become the world’s most expensive book at Sotheby’s New York in November.

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