Auctions

One of the biggest surprises at Nagel’s (33% buyer’s premium) sale in Stuttgart on October 16-17 came right at the end of the auction.

Appetite remains for biannual specialist auction which is still a stalwart of the calendar.

Robert Hillingford (1826-1904) was a Victorian painter of historical scenes, whose subjects included the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon, as well as scenes taken from Shakespearean plays.

Bringing the highest price yet at one of Richard Edmonds’ (20% buyer’s premium) specialist Petroliana and Automobilia sales in Chippenham was a rare petrol pump globe.

“There is no such thing as modern art, there is only art and it is perpetual.” The author of these lines was, perhaps surprisingly, the highly modern Austrian painter Egon Schiele and are part of an artistic manifesto written on July 17, 1911.

Duke’s latest Asian art sale had been headlined by items from a local resident and well-known auctioneer, academic and collector, Anthony du Boulay. The 249 lots from early classic wares to Cantonese enamels generated plenty of saleroom energy and a total of around £800,000.

The practice of placing a metal mark on a building to indicate insurance against a fire started in earnest after the Great Fire of London (1666). Each insurance company had its own fire service and distinctive logo.

In the resilient Beswick market, collectors paid high prices for some rarities – even modern prototypes – at autumn sales.

The private collection of the late auctioneer Rudolf Neumeister was on offer at the saleroom bearing his name – which is now run by his daughter.

For more than 25 years a regular contributor to BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, John Benjamin recalls his early days in the trade – while reviewing a recent jewellery auction. Additional reporting by Roland Arkell.

Auction house CEFA has rebranded as The Magellan Centre and is not holding a sale on the November 15.

The Little collection of early English silver is coming to Christie’s London on December 3. The auction comprises 26 domestic vessels from the Tudor and early Stuart periods that survived the tumult of the Civil War period. Some pieces are considered the last of their type in private hands.

Market-fresh examples of Qing imperial splendour dominated a week of auctions timed to coincide with this year’s Asian Art in London event.

A Cecil Beaton sketch of Christian Dior working in his studio in Paris sold for £5200 (estimate £500-700) as part of the estate of society dress designer Ian Thomas (1929-93).