2012

CHINESE hardstone carvings worth millions have been stolen from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

IT was a case of ‘last but not least’ at Bonhams’ latest prints sale in New Bond Street.

IS this the longest queue ever to view a single lot coming up at auction?

A UNIQUE Falklands War medal marking the ‘phenomenally brave’ work of a bomb disposal expert has sold for what is believed to be a record price at auction.

WATCHING concrete being poured may not sound like the most exciting thing in the world, but for Bonhams chairman Robert Brooks the sight filled him with delight and pride.

IT was the five o’clock shadow that gave it away. When London dealer Philip Mould spotted this 18th century portrait in a general paintings sale at the New York auctioneers Thomas Cornell Galleries in November last year, he thought it to be of a rather masculine middle-aged lady.

FOLLOWING last week’s front page story regarding allegations of non-payment and irregularities over credit card payments at Cameo Auctions of Midgham, Berkshire, many readers with similar complaints contacted ATG looking for advice.

TWO Chinese works of art valued at £1.8m have been stolen from Durham University’s Oriental Museum in a night-time raid.

BY the early decades of the 19th century it was clear that the ancient and cosmopolitan game of chess would require pieces of standardised size and shape as it entered the era of international competition.

WORKERS restoring an 18th century house in St Petersburg have unearthed an extraordinary cache of Tsarist-era artefacts once owned by one of Russia’s most prominent noble families.

ENTERED for sale by a descendent of the family for whom it was made, this carved wood and painted plaster model of an East End butcher’s shop sold for £22,000 at Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury.

JUBILEE Antiques & Art Auction will become the first Chinese auction house to conduct sales in the West when they hold an auction of Asian works of art at the Bloomsbury Hotel on May 12.

LEADING US regional saleroom Skinner are to launch an online-only auction platform.

AFTER several months of speculation in the trade, founder and chairman Ralph Ward-Jackson has announced that Art London will not take place this year.

The subject of a recent BBC documentary regarding county court judgments, the Midgham firm of fine art auctioneers and valuers are also the subject of non-payment claims and other complaints.

SOTHEBY’S concluded their latest Hong Kong series of sales on April 4, raising a premium-inclusive total of over HK$2.46bn (£212.5m) for the eight sales containing over 2780 lots.

WHILE London auctions saw a 25% rise in value for 2011, sales outside the capital have also been growing.

Seven-day trading in the basement at the Admiral Vernon Arcade has been given the green light despite fears it might sound the death knell for antiques in Portobello.

THIS large, 18in (45cm) high, London-made brass lantern clock, c.1660, proved the highlight of the recent single-owner estate sale conducted by Durrants of Beccles.

LARGE new gallery spaces in Hong Kong look set to provide the battleground in the competition for private treaty sales between Sotheby’s and Christie’s.