International

The star entry in the latest sale of rare books, autographs and manuscripts at Doyle in New York proved to be an example of one of the most ancient forms of writing.

A new auction high for Chinese porcelain was set last week when Sotheby’s sold a tiny Chenghua period ‘chicken cup’ for a hammer price of HK$250m (£21.5m) as part of their latest Hong Kong sale series.

ST Louis Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster says he has ordered auction house Ivey-Selkirk to suspend business pending an investigation into their activities following a number of complaints.

The medieval town of L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, near Avignon, is one of the most visited places in Provence.

Auction reports from Nigeria don’t tend to feature too much in ATG, but maybe that could change thanks to the National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers (NAVA).

€15m deal sets seal on more than three decades of dispute

Wide-ranging bill to end sales already given unanimous backing at the initial stage

New York has hosted three key events in the modern commercial history of the Martin Brothers.

A group of private collectors from China’s Hunan province have privately purchased the famed Min Fanglei, a bronze ritual wine vessel from the Late Shang or Early Western Zhou period due to be sold in New York last month.

Sotheby’s have had to buy back the 59.60 carat flawless fancy vivid pink diamond they sold in Geneva last November for a world record $83m.

New York has firmly reinforced its status as the capital of the global art market with a 25% growth in the value of US sales last year.

A packed saleroom and a continuous barrage of phone bids combined to ensure a near sell-out, multi-estimate result at Sotheby’s in Paris for their three-session auction (in association with Artcurial) of the collection of Félix Marcilhac.

Bright spring sunshine greeted the opening of this year’s TEFAF Maastricht in sharp contrast to last year when freak snowfall disrupted many visitors’ travel plans to the southern Netherlands.

A small contingent of dealers from the UK are currently travelling to Paris for the launch of Cipolat SA’s new biannual antiques fair.

Christie’s has announced a major consignment of Old Master drawings which will be offered over the next two years in a series of sales in London, Amsterdam and Paris.

A ban on the commercial trade in elephant ivory “except in a very limited number of circumstances” announced by the USA this month promises far-reaching consequences for the antiques trade.

Hong Kong’s Fine Art Asia fair organisers have announced that they will launch ‘Guardian Fine Art Asia’ (GFAA), the Beijing edition of the event, in May this year.

Like those London buses where you wait forever then two come along at once, two versions of a rare Olympic torch limited to just 33 examples turned up in separate Drouot auctions in Paris within the space of just ten days.

Paris auction house Piasa will move this spring to a new location at 118 rue du Faubourg St-Honoré, the prestigious Right Bank shopping street, home to art and antiques galleries and to Sotheby’s Paris.