2013

On the eve of the major Old Masters sales in the auction houses, Mayfair dealers Colnaghi of 15 Old Bond Street announced the sale of a recently rediscovered ‘Venus’ by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553).

Strong competition for a number of key works gave a major lift to the latest round of Old Master auctions in London.

Business is best if you are at the top of the tree, according to the latest survey published by the British Antique Dealers’ Association.

Auctioneers Frank Marshall of Knutsford and Wright Manley of Beeston, both in Cheshire, have announced that they are to merge.

This remarkable 1773 longcase clock by Hugh Lough of Penrith proved the top-selling lot at Mitchells of Cockermouth when it sold at £19,000.

Woburn Antiques Centre, at the heart of the Woburn Abbey Estate in Bedfordshire, is to close on September 1.

A new decree under French law has banned the mailing of banknotes, coins, jewellery and precious metals using the standard French postal system.

This c.1614 polychrome alabaster sculpture lost from a London church during the Blitz has been returned to its original location.

The price of gold has continued to drop, falling to its lowest level in almost three years, after the US Federal Reserve said it will be winding down its quantitative easing programme.

Sotheby’s have issued a robust defence of the British Postal Museum & Archive in the wake of strong criticism of the decision to sell off a tranche of its stamp collection valued at up to £5m.

Fred Williams’ ‘You Yangs Landscape 1’ of 1963 made the highest price of the 89-lot sale of Australian art from the Reg Grundy and Joy Chambers-Grundy collection when it sold for Aus$1.9m (£1.2m).

A Suffolk-based jewellery dealer with over 30 years experience in the trade faces ruin after falling victim to a sophisticated robbery last month.

The two-day House & Garden Sale at Mallams in Abingdon, Oxfordshire saw this near pair of early 20th century Louis Vuitton ‘malle armoire secretaires’ sell for £24,000.

He may have conquered much of Europe, but time waits for no man, as Napoleon found out on May 5, 1821.

New guidance from the European Commission has significantly tightened CITES rules, effectively banning the sale of a far wider range of antiques linked to endangered species.

Many of us are addicted to books, so perhaps the premises of a leading rare book dealer, Maggs Bros in London’s Berkeley Square, is an ideal setting for ‘Opium: Santo Domingo Collection’, which brings together some 3000 objects, books, photographs and documents on the history of opium, its use and trade.

This stoneware bird jar dated 1891 established a new auction record for Martin Brothers when it made £67,000 at the latest Arts and Crafts sale held by Woolley & Wallis.

A painting of a Venetian palace by Claude Monet (1840-1926) led the latest round of Impressionist and Modern art auctions in London.

Changes to the temporary import VAT scheme this month could have a major impact on dealers’ cash flow if they do not complete the necessary paperwork soon.