2020

The government’s updated list of businesses whose premises must close as UK enters three-week lockdown to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus includes all dealers, centres, fairs and auctions.

The owner of a painting by Mod Brit artist Terry Frost (1915-2003) is appealing for help after he left it on a train from London to Milton Keynes on January 23.

An historic archive belonging to the engineer who oversaw the design of the Mulberry Harbours in the Second World War has been bought by a museum after being offered at Mitchells’ auction last week.

Philip Mould is putting his own spin on ‘working from home’ as he welcomes the public to his Oxfordshire estate.

With estimates from £1000-10,000 here are four previews of upcoming items this week that you can view and bid for remotely.

A painting by the pioneering Indian abstract artist Vasudeo S Gaitonde (1924-2001) led Sotheby’s anniversary sale of Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art in New York when it sold for a hammer price of $1.5m (£1.25m) against a $1m-1.5m estimate.

The most popular stories on this website over the last week included news of major changes to the auctions and fairs calendar, as well the theft of three valuable Old Master paintings stolen in raid on an Oxford college.

ATG’s selection of hammer highlights this week includes an 18th century creamware mug that evokes the hysteria that greeted the Catholic Relief Act of 1778. It sold for over 12-times estimate.

Sunbury Antiques Fairs, organiser of Kempton and Sandown fairs, has postponed the next scheduled dates of both events due to coronavirus concerns.

A cache of pocket watches, unseen on the market for close to a century, sold for £145,000 in Surrey today.

Arts Council England has appointed the Institute of Art and Law to help form new guidance for institutions around the thorny issues of restitution and repatriation of cultural objects.

IACF, the UK’s largest fair organiser, has cancelled flagship events in April and May as “the health of our stallholders and loyal buyers is our absolute priority” during the coronavirus crisis.

The BBC’s Antiques Roadshow valuation days have been postponed in light of the UK’s government’s advice about the holding of public events.

The online auction house Paddle8 has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York.

Despite coronavirus concerns, dealers came out in support of Adams Antiques Fairs staging its monthly London event last Sunday - ahead of postponement of future dates

Christie’s has made a series of changes to its auction schedule across the world to deal with the spread of coronavirus.

In one of the first tests of the art market since the UK government announced tougher ‘social distancing’ guidance due to the coronavirus outbreak, Sotheby’s latest ‘Made in Britain’ auction recorded a dramatic increase in online bidding.

A poster for a gig by The Who at The Blue Moon Club in Cheltenham attracted fans at a recent Gardiner Houlgate sale.

Irish auctioneers are split on whether to postpone sales to comply with the country's coronavirus social distancing rules, with some banking on internet bidding to continue to host auctions.

The number of items deemed to be Treasure and found by the UK public has hit a record high, according to new figures from the British Museum.