Auction

Pablo Picasso’s affair with Marie-Therese Walter was scandalous and legendary. Now a painting of the romance enters the auction room. But will it reach its estimate of £35 million? At Brooklands, classic cars are up for sale, including a highly desirable early Jaguar. And, in New York, silver crafted by a hero of the American revolutionary war comes up for sale.

Impressive Impressionist and Modern art paintings are up for auction in London. They include a striking portrait of his wife by the artist Amedeo Modigliani and a classic impressionistic scene in Paris by Renoir. Elsewhere, trinkets by the Russian craftsman Faberge are being auctioned from the collection of Harewood House, once the home of The Queen’s aunt.

A collection of drawings owned by the film director Michael Winner comes up for auction in London. They include the first depiction by artist EH Shephard of Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh. And, in a sale of automobilia, intense bidding is expected for the blueprints of the VW Beetle, the ‘People’s Car’, which were rescued from the ruins of Germany in 1945.

In New York, a rare desk made in Connecticut has come up for sale at auction. But why is it expected to make up to one million dollars? In London, beautiful Art Deco jewelry, including a diamond tiara, is going under the hammer, along with paintings by the artists who became known as the Surrealists. But will the bidders be willing to pay the surreal prices?

There’s high excitement in London as modern British art, collected by the restaurateur Peter Langan, comes up for auction. It includes a classic Lowry painting of life at the factory gate and a South of France scene by Sir Winston Churchill. But what will they make? Meanwhile, at Brooklands, petrol heads are bidding for cars from the 1960s, known by collectors as ‘practical classics.’

An eighteenth-century desk by John Townsend, one of America’s most famous furnituremakers, has turned up in a Manhattan apartment. The owners didn’t realize what they had. Now, it’s up for auction at Christie’s and expected to make a massive amount. In London, the Duke of Devonshire is selling two illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages. But what will they fetch?

A Raphael drawing, Head of Young Apostle, a study for a larger work, has come up for auction in London. It was once owned by the Duke of Devonshire, but will this aristocratic connection add to the hefty price tag? Also in London, there’s a desk for sale which experts say was made for French aristocrat Madame de Pompadour. But what will it make?

In New York, American silver is up for sale. It includes pieces made for the second marriage of John Jacob Astor who died on board the Titanic. In London, a first edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter could fetch as much as £20,000. And art from the Jazz Age is expected to do well in one of Britain’s regional auction houses.

Spectacular books of paintings and photographs published by the first explorers are up for sale in London. They include incredible views of the Far East, as bright as the day they were first printed. Elsewhere, Winston Churchill memorabilia, plus canvasses used by the young artist Francis Bacon, and then re-used by someone else, come up for sale.

Rare silk ‘samplers’, created by young girls, that tell the story of the early years of the United States have been collected as part of a week of ‘Americana’ sales in Manhattan. And at Sotheby’s, there’s a sale of a rare ceramics by none other than Pablo Picasso. But will the auction goers be willing to pay the hefty price tags attached?