Auctions

Bid to £16,000 in a sale held by Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) of Dorchester was a 1921 first of Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious House at Styles.

Sale tells a tale of the English and Scottish makers who headed out to India for work

In a Ligurian Garden, a previously missing exhibition work by the British Impressionist Henry Herbert La Thangue (1859-1929), sold for £180,000 (plus buyer’s premium) in the British, European and Sporting Art Sale at Tennants in Leyburn.

A group of medals awarded to the great scientist, explorer and naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) was fiercely contested at auction last week, hammered down for a £273,000 (or £327,600 with buyer’s premium) total against a high estimate of £80,900.

Chicago auction house Hindman is offering a portrait of Ira Aldridge (1807-67), the first black Shakespearean actor to gain international recognition.

He may have been considered ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’ but items connected to Lord Byron (1788-1824) make for very welcome auction consignments.

Sealed wine bottles possess a powerful sense of time and place. For some collectors it is the regional connections that appeal most.

Bonhams Skinner’s August 13 Americana auction in Massachusetts will feature a wide selection of American, English and Chinese Export works of art and paintings.

Besch Cannes Auctions holds its summer sale series in Cannes from August 13-16.

Another high price for Helen Bradley (1900-79) came at Cheshire saleroom Wilson55 (22% buyer’s premium) last month.

Sold for $2m (£1.62m) in a major and hugely successful comics sale held by Heritage (20% buyer’s premium) of Dallas was an original cover artwork produced in 1986 by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley for Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1.

An example of 19th century archaeological revivalist jewellery was one of the best-sellers in the July 8-10 auction at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries (20% buyer’s premium).

This early 18th century detailed terracotta by the Italian sculptor Angelo de Rossi (1671-1715), which was also pictured and discussed in ATG No 2547, came up for auction at Corbeil-Essonnes near Paris on June 18.