News topics

A group of medals awarded to the great scientist, explorer and naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) was fiercely contested at auction last week, hammered down for a £273,000 (or £327,600 with buyer’s premium) total against a high estimate of £80,900.

LAPADA, The Association of Art & Antiques Dealers, is returning to The Game Fair this summer and plans to debut at The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) Welsh Game Fair in the autumn.

Chicago auction house Hindman is offering a portrait of Ira Aldridge (1807-67), the first black Shakespearean actor to gain international recognition.

He may have been considered ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’ but items connected to Lord Byron (1788-1824) make for very welcome auction consignments.

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including Frieze Masters returning to Regent’s Park and celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Sealed wine bottles possess a powerful sense of time and place. For some collectors it is the regional connections that appeal most.

Bonhams Skinner’s August 13 Americana auction in Massachusetts will feature a wide selection of American, English and Chinese Export works of art and paintings.

Special report on Masterpiece and TEFAF Maastricht – both held in summer this year

Besch Cannes Auctions holds its summer sale series in Cannes from August 13-16.

Another high price for Helen Bradley (1900-79) came at Cheshire saleroom Wilson55 (22% buyer’s premium) last month.

Sold for $2m (£1.62m) in a major and hugely successful comics sale held by Heritage (20% buyer’s premium) of Dallas was an original cover artwork produced in 1986 by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley for Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1.

An example of 19th century archaeological revivalist jewellery was one of the best-sellers in the July 8-10 auction at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries (20% buyer’s premium).

This early 18th century detailed terracotta by the Italian sculptor Angelo de Rossi (1671-1715), which was also pictured and discussed in ATG No 2547, came up for auction at Corbeil-Essonnes near Paris on June 18.

Mainland Chinese buyers bidding on jade, porcelain, wooden and textile offerings dominated the leader board at an Asian & Islamic sale at Cheltenham.

Three lots at Tennants’ (22% buyer’s premium) traced the history of Stan Dodds (1928-2012) – the first and foremost of the Critters.

Works by William Ratcliffe (1870- 1955) are pretty rare on the market and, when they do turn up, they tend to appear at London auctions.

Two case studies reveal the kind of challenges the art trade has to tackle

The reassuring news from the East began with the first lot offered at Cheffins’ (24.5% buyer’s premium) Fine Sale when 10 China-based bidders competed for a Republican-era porcelain Putai.

Sealed examples with coats of arms, names, dates and places reveal a social history and give an ideal opportunity for genealogical research