Auctions

Artist Sarah Biffin (1784-1850) is believed to have had the condition phocomelia and was born without hands, arms or feet.

Two key early maps of colonial North America were offered for sale at Ramsay Cornish in Edinburgh on December 7.

Although catalogued as Sèvres, a porcelain cup and saucer sold by Keys (20% buyer’s premium) of Aylsham for an unexpected £5500 (estimate £100-200) on November 27 was by the factory’s precursor at Vincennes. The saucer had the date letter A for c.1754 and the cup B for c.1755.

The 11 pieces of early-18th century Régence silver gilt from a dressing service pictured below were billed by Christie’s as “the last remnants of France’s most glorified stylistic and historically important period”.

This group of late-19th century Chinese export bowls and saucers was made for the Middle Eastern market – specifically for the Qajar prince Mas’ud Mirza Zill al-Sultan (1850-1918).

Cotswolds steel masterworks bring £50,000.

The sale at John Nicholson’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Haslemere on October 24 included a substantial collection of ancient (or ancient style) coloured glassware: more than 60 pieces sold across half a dozen group lots.

Two lots of Japanese cloisonné – both by top-drawer Meiji workshops – merited sums way over estimate at a sale conducted by Thomas R Callan (20% buyer’s premium) in Ayr on November 30.

A ‘prominent’ northern English family consigned a seascape by the Dutch Golden Age painter Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-82) to Anderson & Garland (22% buyer’s premium).

Preview held in imposing stately home helps to boost interest ahead of first sale section.

Comics and comic artwork selling at a very high level were evident in a three-day sale held recently in Dallas.

An international buyer paid £34,000 for a 15th century Netherlandish School oil on panel of the Virgin and St Elizabeth which was last on the market in 1955.

A pair of engravings after Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525-69) sold for more than six-times estimate at auction in Essex.

Two mixed lots of Victorian dust-pressed tiles sold for multi-estimate sums at Mander (24% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Sudbury on November 30. Key to their appeal were the inclusion of near sets of tiles made by Minton Hollins & Co to designs by Arts & Crafts luminaries.

Bidders respond positively to auction combination of quality, freshness and pricing.

Darwin and Newton impress in US auction while Adam Smith brings wealthy sums.