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Late January/early February has become the new slot for golfiana sales with events held by Bonhams Chester (January 28) and Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh (February 7).

Alongside the Americana offered in the New York salerooms earlier this month, there was a strong representation of early English ceramics. Sotheby’s January 20 sale of the pottery collection of Harriet Carlton Goldweitz was followed the next day by Christie’s auction of the Mrs J. Insley Blair collection, which included some key Staffordshire productions alongside its blue chip American furnishings.

UK Government will campaign to exclude artists’ heirs permanently

On a cold January 26 night in Edinburgh, a packed saleroom at Lyon & Turnbull witnessed a defining moment in the Scottish art market.

Christie’s will test the potentially lucrative waters of the Middle Eastern market in situ by holding an inaugural sale in Dubai this spring.

Next month the Royal Observatory, Greenwich will unveil four new galleries designed to tell the story of precision timekeeping.

AGAINST a flurry of publicity on the subject, online registry of stolen valuables Swift-Find.com has launched a new initiative to help identify and reclaim Nazi looted art.

The tripod table is among the selection of Early Mahogany furniture that contributes to the ACC Antique Furniture Price Index. The sector recorded a 6% fall in 2005 – with tripod tables of routine quality dropping in price – but better examples of any form will buck the general trend.

For the fourth year running, prices for standard pieces of antique furniture have fallen, according the Antique Collectors’ Club’s annual index. The figures for 2005 saw the Antique Furniture Index register a record fall of seven per cent to create the best buyers’ market for more than a decade.

Two fine lots of 17th century English pewter greeted New Year bidders in the country.

Ninety-one-year-old John Werner Kluge is the stuff of the American Dream – a German immigrant who amassed his fortune in the States buying radio and television stations.

Christie’s have announced £1.8bn ($3.2bn) in global sales for 2005, the highest total in the firm’s history and more than 30 per cent up on 2004.

Sales at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris rose 16 per cent in 2005 to €414m (£280m), but firms based elsewhere in the city also continued to increase their market share.

Helped by a £2.6m windfall, Salisbury auctioneers Woolley & Wallis emerged from 2005 as the largest-grossing UK provincial saleroom.

...and I’ll fight it in the courts if I have to

18th century French furniture was much in evidence on both sides of the Channel at the end of last year. It was the mainstay of two single-owner collections offered at the height of the pre-Christmas season.

FOR the second week in a row a Government U-turn has dealt the British art and antiques industry a bodyblow – but the latest move is far more serious than last week’s SIPPs debacle.

Who has the resale right? The artist holding copyright of their work or a qualifying body to whom they have assigned the right under the regulations, such as a charity. Until January 1, 2010, the right only applies if the artist is living.

PAUL Barthaud, who has just stepped down as executive director of Spink, is the new chief operating officer for the Fine Art Auction Group.

Gloucester auctioneers Bruton Knowles are experimenting with a new software package that allows online visitors to turn selected objects 360 degrees for a detailed inspection.