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As the market develops, some of the ‘secondary’ niche Swiss brands have entered the mainstream collecting arena. The Bonhams (25% buyer’s premium) Fine Watches and Wristwatches sale on June 20 offered a range of 46 Heuers from a single-owner private collection.

The July Old Master auctions in London were a mixed affair with the lack of blockbuster lots meaning the overall total was down on the levels of the last two years.

More than £47m of Modern British art changed hands in a bumper series held in London, as buyers competed fiercely for blue-chip pieces and lots offering best value.

Air-conditioned Masterpiece London concluded its ninth edition last week after running from June 28-July 4.

New auction records were achieved for two of the four Scottish Colourists in the space of a week.

West London fair’s June edition meets with mixed response from exhibitors.

Legend has it that, while on safari in Africa with her lover and employer Louis Cartier, Jeanne Toussaint spotted a panther and immediately exclaimed: “Onyx, diamonds, emeralds – a brooch!” The Cartier range of feline jewels was born.

Change has come to the antiques fair at Birmingham’s NEC.

The House of Lords plans to recommend amendments to the ivory bill in the hope that it will be “less damaging” to the art and antiques trade.

An inscription reading “For Mrs Oliver, from Beatrix Potter – with kind regards & best wishes for Christmas 1901” was a welcome bonus on a copy of the first, privately printed edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

There has long been a tradition of summer sales in Monaco, with an emphasis on the luxury goods area of the market: jewellery, watches, handbags and cars. Here are a few stand-out lots coming up.

Wristwatch expert Adrian Hailwood has joined Dreweatts as a senior specialist.

A coin and antiquities dealer has been arrested as part of an international investigation into a £35m crime network dealing in looted artefacts.

This Egyptian revival gold, enamel and gem-set collar necklace below established a new record for the jewellery of Marie Zimmermann (1879-1972) at Rago in Lambertville, New Jersey (25% buyer’s premium) on June 10.

Two 1859 firsts of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species…, neither in what could be called good condition, made very strong prices in recent weeks. This is a book nowadays so desirable that such shortcomings can be overlooked.