Front Page and News

Plans for shop reopenings, new fair dates and rescheduled auctions are under way as the art and antiques sector welcomed the news of the government ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown in England.

The UK government has confirmed to ATG that it has “no plans to make changes to either the rates of Artist’s Resale Right that are applied or how the levy operates” following the post-Brexit trade deal agreed with the EU.

An evocative interior scene by one of the founding members of the Vienna Secession movement set a landmark price at Freeman’s of Philadelphia.

A tankard said to be made from the hide of Oliver Cromwell’s warhorse was the toast of an auction in Dorchester.

A rare, candid autobiographical account by a soon-to-be-executed 18th century brickmaker has been bought by Horsham Museum.

When astronaut Ed White was pictured during the first US spacewalk it was not only the first still photograph of a human in space, but also the first taken by another human – James McDivitt. Up to that moment all images released were taken by television or monitoring cameras.

Christie’s has explained its policy of holding trade-only viewings of its sales, saying they comprise ‘business meetings’ rather than public viewings.

Following an internal consultation – and a public outcry – the Wallace Collection has announced its library and archive will remain open to the public.

Although the elegant lines of the Cartier Tonneau Curvex wristwatch are the antithesis of today’s macho tool watch, many were used by soldiers in the First World War.

A Roman floor panel sold at auction in 2018 and then to an international buyer will be reunited with two other fragments from the same mosaic after a successful fundraising appeal to keep it in the UK.

The world record for a George Cross has been broken by a medal awarded to a courageous British soldier who died in captivity during the Korean War.

Velvet evening slippers and a brandy glass once belonging to Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) are coming to auction at Bellmans in Sussex next month.

Despite the near absence of face-to-face trading, 2020 was a record year for London’s coins and medals auction houses with combined total sales just shy of £53m.

New proposals by the European Commission to prevent the commercial export and import of most antiques containing ivory have been described by The British Antique Dealers Association (BADA) as “hugely damaging and disproportionate”.

A face jug from the Ealing Martinware thefts has been returned – the second piece from the local council’s collection to be recovered in recent months.

Liverpool are leaving their Melwood training centre after 70 years and specialist sport auctioneer Graham Budd has been tasked with selling the contents.

Few auction houses have expanded their roster of full-time staff over the past 12 months but one of those bucking the trend is Forum Auctions.