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AUCTIONEERS Martel Maides of St Peter Port in Guernsey were amazed to encounter this Channel Islands silver table bell in a recent over-the-counter valuation.

THE largest 'Conjuring' sale seen in London for some time, at Bloomsbury Auctions on September 8, had at its core the 460-lot collection of the late Bob Read, a 'Close-Up Entertainer' and lecturer in the UK and USA who was a tireless researcher into the history of magic and conjuring.

High Court judge to decide if 10,000-piece holding must be sold off

BILLED as the largest and most important country house auction of the year, Christie's three-day sale at Cowdray Park in West Sussex, netted £6.4m hammer against a £5m top estimate.

FOUR people have gone on trial in Germany on charges linked to a multi-million pound art fraud exposed as a result of scientific testing on paint.

MORE details have come to light regarding the break-in at Long Street Antiques Centre in Tetbury during the early hours of Friday, August 26.

FORTY lots, including luxury holidays, internships and unique visits to museums and stately homes, as well as art and antiques, are to be offered in a grand charity auction at Sotheby's on the evening of September 22 on behalf of the Company of Arts Scholars, Dealers and Collectors. A further 45 lots will be auctioned online at www.i-bidder.com/charityauction

SOTHEBY’S Institute are hosting a one-day conference on the nature of risk at their Bedford Square headquarters on September 23.

SOME fine early English porcelain came up at the latest sale held by Chorley's of Prinknash Abbey, Gloucestershire.

FOLLOWING the recent report about cheque fraud in July on Portobello Road and Westbourne Grove, additional incidents have emerged of suspected fraud around London using cheques under the account name GC Commodity’s (sic).

THE last few months have seen a dramatic increase in the number of works from provincial museums being sold on the open market as a result of government cuts.

THE amputation tools used by a surgeon on the battlefields of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) will appear at auction in October.

DESPITE the uncertain economic conditions that have cooled the art market in Australia, last month saw a new high for one the country’s most highly regarded artists.

THE Westport Police Department is investigating the theft of two Chinese Louhan head sculptures, recently stolen from a private collection in Westport, Connecticut.

THE uplifting story of how West Auckland FC won ‘the first world cup’ has gone down in the annals of English football.

THE Edinburgh sales at Bonhams and Lyon & Turnbull in August both featured Wemyss wares, offering an opportunity to assess the current market.

THIS carved and painted figurehead of a country girl once adorned the bow of The Coonatto, an English ship that served the Australian wool and tea trade.

As the spectre of droit de suite for artists’ heirs looms large over the British art market, the main copyright and licensing collecting agency in the United States is pushing to see the debate over artists’ resale rights revived on Capitol Hill.

A RECORD high for gold and another surge in the price of silver led to considerable volumes of antiques being sold for scrap last week.

The latest sale of Scottish silver at Lyon & Turnbull included a number of early Edinburgh hollowares, including this pair of James VI (I of England) communion cups.