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Rising costs in the wake of the government ban on credit card fees are forcing auctioneers to end card transactions or consider raising buyer’s premium.

Catalogued simply as ‘a pair of English soft-paste porcelain models of parrots’, these rare 18th century figures by Bow sold at Thomas Watson in Darlington, County Durham, for £16,000 (plus 24% buyer’s premium) on May 15.

Lord John Kerr, one of the true doyens of the antiquarian book world, died peacefully at his home in Oxfordshire aged 90 on May 3.

Brian Page passed away on Monday, May 14, after a short illness.

Two targets for clockwork toy car collectors on the occasions they appear at auction are the CIJ Alfa Romeo P2 racing car and the Gunthermann model of Captain Campbell’s Blue Bird. Good examples of both came up for sale recently.

Guided at £200-400, a pair of 17th century British school portraits (one pictured below) went on to fetch £1150 each at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) of Shrewsbury.

A selection of rare 19th century suzanis, handwoven silk embroideries from the areas of modern-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, go on offer next month at Afridi Gallery’s exhibition 'Gardens of Delight' in London.

Osborne Samuel hosts the first major selling show of works by John Craxton (1922-2009) for 25 years this month.

For roughly 30 years the London gallery Messum’s has worked with modern British painter Rose Hilton (b.1931) to establish her work on its own merits.

Gray MCA plans to tap into a wide base of fashion enthusiasts and collectors as it moves into its first permanent gallery space in Bath this month.

Jeremy Green of The Canon Gallery and Mark Goodman of Goodman Fine Art have joined forces for an exhibition of oils and watercolours at Goodman’s new space on Duke Street.

A quartet of weapons with fascinating histories sold recently at regional UK auctions.

The David and Peggy Rockefeller auction at Christie’s New York earlier this month was significant as a new high for a single-owner sale, with a series of noteworthy results such as a $102m (£75m) Picasso.

Three modestly valued works in regional sales.

Bearing a title that translates as ‘The Book of Correction of Optics for those who have Sight and Mind’, an early 14th century Arabic manuscript made a much higher than expected £450,000 during the recent Islamic week of sales in London.

Fellows has expanded its London presence with a new office in a Georgian townhouse in Mayfair which will allow an improved viewing schedule for auction previews.

Lancashire County Council is to reopen Lancaster Judges’ Lodgings, home to a key collection of Gillows furniture.