Art Daily Newsletter
 Jane Austen, a gold and gem set ring, est. £20,000-30,000, sold for £152,450. Photo: Sotheby's. LONDON.- This afternoon in Sotheby’s English Literature, History, Children’s Books & Illustrations sale, a previously unknown gold and gem set ring belonging to the great English author Jane Austen, sold for £152,450 – more than five times its pre-sale high estimate of £20,000-30,000. Eight bidders battled for the turquoise ring, which was eventually won by an anonymous private collector over the telephone. The ring was offered for sale for the first time, having remained in Jane Austen’s family for nearly 200 years – handed down between female descendants over many generations. The Gandhi-Kallenbach archive of letters, papers and photographs spanning five decades, was privately sold before the auction to the Indian Government. Sotheby’s manuscripts specialist Dr Gabriel Heaton commented: “Jane Austen‟s simple and modest ring is a wonderfully intimate and evocative possession The price ... |