Auctions

The prize lot sold at a recent Hermann Historica (25% buyer’s premium) sale in Munich was this 19th century Ottoman kilij of characteristic form with a curved blade swelling towards the tip.

Three pistol lots came to the fore at a recent sale at Bonhams (27.5/25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) in London.

Once the humble playthings of boys the world over, airguns now attract a keen collector following.

The German Maxim machine gun was used to devastating effect on Allied troops during the First World War.

A premium-inclusive total of £1.5m was achieved at Holts’ (25/20% buyer’s premium) summer auction in Norfolk, the third consecutive sale held with no one bidding in the room because of Covid restrictions.

The vast majority of cushion-moulded mirrors from the late 17th century have lost their original cresting, which was both flamboyant and fragile.

A Renaissance helmet sold at a London auction will be reunited with its garniture (set of armour) after being bought by Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA).

The sale of Michel Périnet’s collection of tribal art at Christie’s in Paris on June 23 real ised a remarkable €66m/£57m (including buyer’s premium) and every one of the 61 lots were sold.

Two Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) drawings created national news last week as Christie’s posted a record for a sketch by the great master in London while a court in Paris is to determine whether another can be legally exported from France.

The overall performance of the latest London sales of Old Master pictures and ‘important’ works of art was fairly mixed but the auction houses did at least welcome the return of some big-ticket items.

This 6½in (16cm) Irish silver gilt chalice dating from c.1480 is a rare survival from before the Reformation.

A set of remarkable wine glasses that had remained in the same family since the 18th century was one of the highlights among quality items in two sales.

European ceramics from renowned US collector come to the New York rostrum.

A large 18th century watercolour of a Scottish loch by William Turner of Oxford (1789-1862) emerged as a star lot at Parker Fine Art (25% buyer’s premium).

Valued at £2000-4000 in an Entertainment, Memorabilia & Movie Props sale held by Ewbank’s (25% buyer’s premium) of Send on May 27 was an uncorrected 1997 proof copy of a book that was soon to make publishing, cinematic and marketing history: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

A single coffee can from the Baltic Service was among the highlights of Hansons’ (25% buyer’s premium) sale on June 9, selling to a collector at £2000.