Latest News Articles by Alex Capon
Turner’s Walton Bridges heads to Norwich Castle after being saved for the nation
19 July 2019JMW Turner’s oil painting ‘Walton Bridges’ which sold at Sotheby’s in July last year has been bought for the nation after funding was secured by Norfolk Museums Service.
Museum appeals for final £10,000 to secure Jane Austen handwritten letter
19 July 2019Jane Austen's House Museum in Hampshire has launched an appeal to raise the remaining funds needed to buy a fragment of a letter written by the great novelist in 1814.
Long-lost Marlborough gem bid to £62,000
18 July 2019A sapphire intaglio ring that was identified as one of the long-lost Marlborough gems shortly before it was due to be auctioned was bid to £62,000 at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury today.
Egypt threat of legal action adds to ‘politicisation’ of antiquities
15 July 2019The Antiquities Dealers’ Association (ADA) has said dealers and auctioneers should stand up to “the politicisation of the antiquities trade” in the wake of a row surrounding the sale of a £4m sculpture.
Top stories this week – including news of a ‘Botticelli’ selling for over 900-times estimate
12 July 2019The most popular stories on this website over the last week included news of a panel painting catalogued as ‘in the style of Sandro Botticelli (c.1445-1510)’ bringing an intense 10-minute bidding battle.
Replica US Open trophy leads auction of items seized from tennis star Boris Becker
11 July 2019The auction of sporting memorabilia seized from Boris Becker has finally taken place with some extraordinary prices bid for a series of trophies won by the bankrupt tennis star.
Christie’s counters Egypt’s threat to sue over £4m sale of Tutankhamun head
09 July 2019Christie’s has reiterated that it “carried out extensive due diligence” into a head of Tutankhamun after the Egyptian National Committee for Antiquities Repatriation (NCAR) said that it will instruct a UK law firm to file a lawsuit over its £4m sale.
Sold for 914 times top estimate: £5m ‘Botticelli’ stuns saleroom
08 July 2019Spectators at an auction in Zürich were left flabbergasted when a Quattrocento panel painting with a SFr5000-7000 estimate catalogued as ‘in the style of Sandro Botticelli (c.1445-1510)’ was knocked down at SFr6.4m (£5.16m) after an intense 10-minute bidding battle.
Masterpieces to a Rothschild’s taste tempt buyers during a packed London sales week
08 July 2019The 52-lot auction of furniture, paintings and works of art collected by members of the Rothschild family was among the most animated during a packed week of London showpiece sales.
Top stories this week – including news of auction house Wright Marshall looking for a buyer
05 July 2019The most popular stories on this website over the last week included news of a buyer being sought for auction house Wright Marshall after its parent company went into administration.
Impressionist and Modern auctions are on the sluggish side
24 June 2019The latest sales of Impressionist & Modern art in London put in a mixed performance.
Going, going, private… Sotheby’s could compete on level terms with Christie’s – once it quits stock exchange
24 June 2019Art market insiders are expecting a dramatic change in the dynamic at the top end of the sector if a remarkable $3.7bn bid to buy Sotheby’s completes this year.
Top stories this week – including news of Only Fools and Horses millionaire cheque selling at auction
21 June 2019The most popular stories on this website over the last week included news of the £6.2m cheque that finally made the Trotter brothers millionaires selling at an auction in Bristol.
Van Gogh’s ‘suicide’ gun sells for €130,000 at auction in Paris
19 June 2019The gun believed to be the weapon used by Vincent van Gogh to shoot himself in the summer of 1890 was knocked down at an €130,000 (£116,070) at auction in Paris.
Sotheby's sold to media entrepreneur and art collector Patrick Drahi in $3.7bn deal
17 June 2019Sotheby’s has been sold to BidFair USA, a company owned by media and telecom entrepreneur and art collector Patrick Drahi.
Beethoven’s hair bid to £28,000 at Sotheby’s
17 June 2019A lock of Ludwig van Beethoven’s hair that was “evidently given” by the great composer to the pianist Anton Halm in 1826 was knocked down at £28,000 at a Sotheby’s auction in London last week.
Portrait of Augustus John’s painterly daughter brings bidding in Cambridge
17 June 2019A portrait by Augustus John (1878-1961) of his daughter Gwyneth Johnstone attracted keen attention at auction in Cambridge last week.
Top stories this week – including news of a metal detectorist’s £460,000 discovery
15 June 2019The most popular stories on this website over the last week included news of a rare Roman gold coin found by a metal detectorist in a field in Kent selling at a London auction for £460,000.
A Brilliant response to studio sale
10 June 2019A maquette for the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in London’s Tavistock Square – valued at £20,000 on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow – was the top lot in a sale of works from the Polish-born artist Fredda Brilliant (1903-99).
Pick of the week: Restituted Swiss self-portrait lights up saleroom
10 June 2019Berlin auction house Grisebach posted an auction record for the Swiss artist Karl Stauffer-Bern (1857-91) on May 29 when it sold a self-portrait which had been recently restituted to the family of its original Jewish owners.