2011

ONE of Germany’s official war artists, Roman Zenzinger, who has long remained in the shadows because of his apparent hatred of the Nazis, is now having his works bought to light.

THE latest imports and exports figures have shown a major recovery in the value of art and antiques traded annually between the UK and overseas.

Amid all the speculation surrounding payment for the Qianlong Imperial vase sold at Bainbridge’s of Ruislip for £43m hammer, Peter Bainbridge, who has been tight-lipped about the state of affairs in recent weeks, has now told his local newspaper that the sale is going through.

A SET of four George II silver salts by the celebrated Huguenot silversmith Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751) sold for a double-estimate £19,000 at Hansons' latest sale at the Mackworth Hotel in Derby.

CHRISTIE’S chief operating officer, Lisa King, has resigned from the firm after only a year in her new role.

CHURCHILL impersonator Derek Herbert was in Towcester on March 16 to aid Northamptonshire auctioneer Jonathan Humbert in the sale of a pair of acetate tortoiseshell-effect reading glasses that belonged to Sir Winston.

A NEW auction house based at the Silverstone race track opened for business in February.

HAMPSHIRE auctioneers Jacobs & Hunt of Petersfield achieved a new house record when they sold this 17th century Italian specimen marble plaque for £37,000 last month.

A JOINT initiative by Clarion Events and the Fairs Forum of dealers promises to re-establish the Summer Olympia fair as a broader-based marketplace this June.

DETERMINING whether something is an artwork or not is at the centre of an appeal to the UK Supreme Court in a copyright dispute between Star Wars producer George Lucas and one of his former prop makers.

ON April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin blasted out of the earth’s atmosphere in the Vostok 3KA-3 Space Capsule, becoming the first man to travel into space.

CUSTOMS & Excise (HMRC) have launched a new guide through Business Link to advise small businesses on the records they are obliged to keep.

REPORTS from Christchurch in New Zealand reveal that an antiques dealer is appealing for help to retrieve his stock before the army demolishes his damaged shop.

ON the evening of Tuesday, March 1 thieves broke into Willingham Auctions and stole four fruit-decorated Royal Worcester vases.

AFTER 26 years working with Martel Maides, Norman Wilkinson has established his own firm of Channel Islands Auctions Ltd.

A PICTURE discovered in a Suffolk village has sold for Aus$132,000 (£85,715) in Bonhams' saleroom in Sydney, Australia.

DREWEATTS auctioneers have announced that they will make their first sortie into the racing world by sponsoring a race at Newbury Racecourse on Friday, April 15.

STOKE on Trent will shortly host the largest exhibition of Shelley and Wileman ceramics since the factory’s closure in 1966.

CHINA has pushed the United Kingdom into third place as a player in the world art market and is now second only to the United States.

SOUTH Africa’s withdrawal from the Commonwealth in 1961 brought with it hefty import taxes on finished luxury goods: a difficult moment for Meccano, for whom the colonies were key markets.