Front Page and News

The Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury on February 19 included this striking tribal mask from central Africa.

When photography aficionado Janette Rosing (1942-2021) died, Pierre Spake wrote of her in an obituary in ATG (No 2485): “Like all true collectors she pushed the limits of her budget, often exceeding it."

Two Cartier brooches commissioned by Sir Stephen Courtauld for his wife have gone on display at Eltham Palace, eight months after they were sold at auction by Dreweatts in Newbury.

Logistics firm DHL is to change its policy on shipping knives and other bladed articles from March 1, applying a ban on carrying blades over 8in (20.3cm) long on its Express service.

This Dutch East Indies gold mounted tortoiseshell betel box hammered at £15,000 (plus 24% buyer’s premium) on the opening day of the sale held by Mellors & Kirk in Nottingham on February 11-12.

Treasure finds in the UK are at an all-year high, a report has found.

A gentleman (Dukatenscheißer) with his trousers pulled down excreting a gilt metal coin from his bottom or a composition nodder of a grotesque women beating a child might not be for everyone.

Forum Auctions has set a record for a copy of JRR Tolkien’s 'The Lord of the Rings'.

The collection of Selim Zilkha (1927-2022), founder of Mothercare, represented a stern test of the market for early English silver.

The closure of Roma Numismatics and competition from overseas meant total sales across London coins and medals auctions fell to £51.7m in 2024.

As with last year’s equivalent sales, the winter Old Masters auctions in New York looked a little thin.

In last week’s news story about auction house overall sales totals for 2024 (ATG No 2679) we said that the highest-value objects sold in the UK by any regional auction house last year were two Antonine over-lifesize busts of empresses which hammered at £600,000 each at Lyon & Turnbull.

Focusing on the single-owner space helped both Dreweatts and Lyon & Turnbull to achieve strong numbers in 2024.