The Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale on 9 July reached £68.3 million, the highest ever total for such an auction at Sotheby’s in London. Over half the works on offer were from four of the world’s most eminent aristocratic and private collections: those of the Dukes of Northumberland, the Earls of Warwick, Barbara Piasecka Johnson and Baron Coppée. The signature lot was George Stubbs’ enigmatic Tygers at Play, which sold after much competitive bidding for £7.7 million.