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Last year there were fears the Metropolitan Police’s Art & Antiques Unit would be closed after two of its members were seconded to the Grenfell Tower fire enquiry. However, in December the team was reunited and a new boss Det Sgt Rob Upham, with 23 years’ experience in the Met, was brought in to lead the team. ATG caught up with him recently.

Australian bookseller Sally Burdon has been elected president of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB). She succeeds Gonzalo F Pontes who was president from 2016-18.

Tim Wilkes, a leading expert in Islamic coinage, has joined the coin department at London auction house Dix Noonan Webb.

Paul Sumner’s hopes of a restructure of Australian saleroom Mossgreen melted away last week after his proposed investment plan failed and the administrator began winding down the business.

Chiswick Auctions has taken on a trio of books specialists from Bloomsbury Auctions as the west London saleroom kicks off 2018 with a new sales programme.

A precedent-setting legal dispute over a $10m (£7.2m) fee relating to the 2014 sale of a $210m Paul Gauguin painting has been won by auctioneer turned art adviser Simon de Pury.

Lucie Rowe, who started her career with Cirencester auction house Moore Allen & Innocent 15 years ago as a part-time saleday porter, has been promoted to her first management position: assistant saleroom manager.

Former Christie’s vintage poster specialists Nicolette Tomkinson and Sophie Churcher have teamed up with Lyon & Turnbull to launch dedicated auctions this year.

Derbyshire-based Hansons Auctioneers is opening a London saleroom, with plans to host fine art and antiques auctions once a month from February 2018.

With the closure of Christie’s South Kensington in July and restructuring at parent company Christie’s, many former staff were on the move in 2017. But, as this selection suggests, they were not the only ones trading places.