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The Rare Books sale at Ketterer Kunst (25/20/19% buyer’s premium) in Hamburg on May 27 included this first edition dedication copy of Das Kapital (1867).

“You were the only person who ever succeeded in teaching me mathematics or indeed - let me add - in making me work at anything that did not excite my interest. I regard my work at mathematics under your care as the most salutary mental discipline I ever received.”

Our selection of lots from nine upcoming auctions

ATG’s pick of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com, featuring both the highest prices over-estimate and the top prices paid online.

With very few exceptions, the French artist Victor Philippe Lemoine-Benoit (active 1831-50) devoted almost all of his painting career to one subject: hot-air balloons of the type made famous by the Montgolfier brothers in the late 18th century.

Estimated at $15,000-20,000 but hammering for $135,000 (£107,000), the highlight of the Asian works of art sale at Tenmoku (28/25/20% buyer’s premium) was a Chinese white-glazed incised dragon vase.

A flintlock duck gun hailed as exceptional by Olympia Auctions fully lived up to its billing when it shot past an estimate of £60,000-80,000 to hammer down at £380,000 on June 26.

Serpenti jewels, which followed the launch of Bulgari’s signature gold Tubogas bracelets in the late 1940s, were featured in Vogue and other fashion magazines on countless occasions in the Sixties.

A collection of close to 100 Arts & Crafts belt buckles formed just part of the remarkable Anthony Gardner collection sold by Bellmans (25% buyer’s premium) in Wisborough Green, West Sussex, on April 16.

Highlights from the London Jewels sale at Bonhams on June 13

‘Charming’ view by the Cornish artist lacking his usual dominant figures takes top spot in Penzance sale

In a private collection since it was last sold in 1991, one of only two known autograph manuscripts by author and journalist Albert Camus of his masterpiece L’Etranger was sold by Tajan (23/20/12% buyer’s premium) in Paris on June 5.

Concept Art Gallery (22% buyer’s premium) in Pittsburgh enjoyed a sensational result at a recent sale.

Watch chatelaine offered at auction was produced by a man who created many works for the Hanoverian household

Wirral-born photographer John Deakin (1912-72) is best-known for his uncompromisingly honest portraits of the Soho art scene of the 1950s and 60s.

The Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa (1906-78) designed for Venini from 1932-47, creating around 30 different ranges.

Over 100 patents for mechanical apple parers were granted in the US between 1850-90.

Fabergé’s rock crystal, platinum, silver and diamond ‘ice flower’ jewels were made by the workmaster Albert Holmström, c.1913-14, after designs made by his niece Alma Pihl (1888-1976).

The Parisian workshop of Henri Picq does not have quite the name recognition of Cartier or LaCloche, but it was nonetheless responsible for supplying both houses with some of the most exceptional jewellery of the early 20th century.

On the market for the first time in over half a century, a Roman marble copy of the Crouching Venus hammered at $130,000 (£103,000) in the Freeman’s Hindman (27/21/15% buyer’s premium) auction on May 23.