Front Page and News

Around 24 enamel advertising signs that were part of a private Victorian steam railway on the McAlpine estate at Fawley Hill in Buckinghamshire have been stolen.

Catalogued simply as an ‘African ceremonial tribal spear’ and estimated at £200-300, a Luba staff of office sold for an unexpected £18,500 (plus 15% buyer’s premium) at Gildings’ first sale of the new year in Market Harborough.

A pair of George III sauce tureens by Daniel Smith and Robert Sharp was among the early sales on the opening day of The Mayfair Antiques & Fine Art Fair.

Bonhams has bolstered its luxury division by launching a dedicated handbag and fashion department.

Sotheby’s has added its weight to the art market’s response against President Donald Trump’s imposition of import tariffs on Chinese works of art in the US.

Auction house Elstob & Elstob has relocated to larger premises after just a year of trading.

An original Queen Anne walnut wingback armchair is among the items featured in the showcase foyer at the next Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair.

This rediscovered drawing of the future George IV (1762-1830) is believed to have been owned by his true love Maria Fitzherbert (1756-1837).

A white porcelain sculpture made in the experimental years of the Chelsea factory has been acquired for the national ceramics collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Trade bodies and dealers with shops have given a collective thumbs-up to the new Conservative government’s pledge to slash small business rates by half.

Rescued from a skip, a rusting British enamel advertising sign sold for £10,400 (plus 24% buyer’s premium) at auction in Carmarthen.

Scientific instruments and photographica specialist Flints Auctions has opened new premises and is launching a fresh type of sale.

A Yongzheng (1723-35) mark and period falangcai enamel bowl sold for €3.25m (£2.8m) to lead the recent round of Asian art sales in Paris.

Peninsular War medals featuring 13 or 14 clasps – showing how many actions the recipient fought in – are impressive enough in themselves. But three of them awarded to brothers who served in the same regiment, offered as a single lot at auction, takes demand to a different level.

HMRC is to update UK art market professionals with guidance and webinars in January ahead of the introduction of new anti-money laundering legislation.

In the 130th anniversary year of the birth of Jean Cocteau (1889-1963), a collection of ceramics by the leading figure of the French avant-garde was a sell-out at Bonhams’ Prints and Multiples sale on December 11-12.

An intaglio ring became the second of the ‘lost’ Marlborough jewels to surface at auction in 2019 when it sold for £36,000 (plus 22.5% premium) in Cambridge.