UK

A new antiques sourcing website, Looking for Antiques, has been launched after a construction period of nine years.

London Bridge is falling down, goes the song. A bit further upstream, it turns out that the Houses of Parliament are actually doing the falling down.

A temporary export bar has been placed on the coronet designed for Queen Victoria by her husband Prince Albert, giving UK buyers an opportunity to raise the £5m (plus £1m VAT) asking price to keep it in the country.

Salisbury auction house Woolley & Wallis are opening a Mayfair office.

With his trademark fez and deceptively shambolic stage persona, Tommy Cooper was one of Britain’s best known TV personalities. Now the Victoria & Albert Museum is acknowledging his fame and popularity with the announcement that they have acquired the comedian’s memorabilia collection.

The August Bank Holiday is one of the busiest weekend in the fairs and markets calendar. Here’s a quick look at just a few of the many events taking place across the country.

A four-day sale of the contents of a Norfolk country house being conducted by Keys at their Aylsham rooms will include on September 8-9 the vast library formed by Ron Fiske at Morningthorpe Manor.

This George III coconut cup with silver strapwork mounts sold by Lyon & Turnbull of Edinburgh provides a glimpse of the close relationship that existed between Scotland and Russia in the late 18th century.

The imminent arrival of Crossrail services in London are threatening the character of the Hatton Garden jewellery quarter.

A group of British silversmiths, jewellery retailers and manufacturers has launched a campaign against the ‘outsourcing’ of UK hallmarks overseas.

A series of Old Master drawings from the collection of Brian Sewell have had their attributions upgraded in advance of the auction of the late art critic’s collection in London next month. They include two long-unattributed works that have now been ascribed to named 16th century Italian artists.

When in the middle of the century Suffolk collector Hugh Marsham Townshend (1878-1967) was amassing a collection of gold-mounted porcelain scent bottles and other trinkets, most were thought to be the products of the Chelsea porcelain works or a shadowy enterprise known as the ‘Girl in a Swing’ factory.

A painting by Irish artist Jack B Yeats owned by the late David Bowie will be offered at Sotheby’s in November.

Hutchinson Scott is set to hold its first sale in two years after the founder of the Yorkshire auction house came out of retirement and helped his son restart the family business.

Police are appealing for help following the theft of £10,000 worth of silver from a church in Blockley, near Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire.

Two well-known former London auction specialists are launching a new enterprise selling English and European antique furniture.

A collection of motoring mascots formed by Robert White, a leading UK camera retailer, will be offered at Bonhams next month. Offered in single-owner sale in London on September 19, the consignments include 37 examples by René Lalique.

The National Trust has acquired an important Jacobean portrait miniature for £2.1m from a private seller in a sale brokered by Omnia Art.

The Tate has acquired a major portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) from Castle Howard in North Yorkshire after it was accepted in lieu of inheritance tax.

It is not every day you get the chance to own a unique, original piece of the oldest church in England still in use. If that is your desire, on September 24 your prayers will be answered.