Front Page and News

An online platform for trading shares in artworks could become a reality if a new company manages to meet its fundraising target.

Auctioneers are again being warned to check addresses with shippers following reports of bidding scams.

Next month’s 'London International Antiquarian Book Fair' at the National Hall, Olympia on June 1-3 will be the last held at the West Kensington venue.

The Conservative Party has omitted any mention of ivory in its 2017 manifesto published last week, giving hope an uncompromising ban on the trade will not be introduced.

The flagship auctions of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art in New York last week showed a recovery after a difficult 2016.

Estimated at CHF9000-12,000, a panel painted in the manner of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) sold for CHF700,000 (£564,500) at Galartis SA in Crissier, Lausanne on May 5.

A painting by British artist Evelyn Dunbar (1906- 60) set a record price at auction for the artist at Cheffins’ Art & Design sale on May 11.

A public consultation into the use of British hallmarks for stamping items made overseas will be held after the general election in June, the British Hallmarking Council (BHC) has confirmed to ATG.

The new boss of Dreweatts says he sees “huge potential” for the saleroom as it reverts to owner-management focused on its headquarters in Newbury.

Back in 2013 and with great fanfare, stamp dealership Stanley Gibbons revealed to the stock market that it had bought a group of art, antiques and collectables specialists.

Following the sentencing of former Mallett director Henry Neville for his part in an embezzlement case in April, Stanley Gibbons says it is “pursuing remedies for recouping the losses suffered as a result of these matters”.

The Conservative Party is expected to rethink its previous pledge for a ‘total ban’ on ivory sales in its election manifesto, due for publication this week.

Art Analysis and Research is looking for investment to meet what it says is a growing demand for science-based research from auction houses, dealers and collectors.

Boosting client confidence and keeping them better informed via new technology head the list of priorities for dealers, according to the LAPADA Members Survey 2017.

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has settled a long-running dispute with the estate of a Jewish collector whose house contents was sold by the Graupe Auction House in Berlin in 1937.

Last week’s spectacular $14.5m sale of an ancient ‘stargazer’ idol has been placed in doubt after the Turkish government challenged Christie’s right to sell it.

Austrian saleroom im Kinsky has hit out at the “biased reporting” and “aggressive reaction” to its decision to offer a Nazi-looted painting at auction. With heightened media coverage about the consignment, the portrait of a Dutch merchant by Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613-1670) was eventually withdrawn shortly before it was due to be offered in Vienna at the end of last month.

A now-postponed plan by HMRC to require businesses and the self-employed to file tax returns quarterly rather than yearly “would create havoc” if it was imposed as scheduled in 2018, dealers have told ATG.

The Antiquarian Bookdealers’ Association is to rebrand its young booksellers’ apprenticeship scheme as a training programme following a change in employment law.

An ‘unworked’ ivory gong has been removed from exhibition at Sandringham House on the grounds that it was being used for commercial purposes.