UK

The United Kingdom accounts for more than one fifth of the global art market sales and is the second biggest art market after the US.

Through auctioneers, dealers, fairs and markets - and a burgeoning online sector - buyers, collectors and sellers of art and antiques can easily access a vibrant network of intermediaries and events around the country. The UK's museums also house a wealth of impressive collections

Wellers give up fine art sales

26 September 2014

THE Wellers Group is reorganising its auction business at both its Guildford and Chertsey salerooms, moving away from fine art in favour of architectural elements and interiors.

14-09-292160NESPOON2.jpg

Bloody Mary spoon creates a stir at £10,800

26 September 2014

The quarterly auction of silver and plated wares held by Fellows in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter on September 22 included a family collection of eight apostle spoons formed several generations ago.

14-09-222159NE04AWING.jpg

Sotheby’s return to Chatsworth

24 September 2014

Beyond Limits is Sotheby’s annual outdoor exhibition of monumental sculpture in the historic gardens of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.

14-09-222159NE01bCLOCK.jpg

Pinchbecks reclaim clock after nearly 300 years

22 September 2014

Collector Robin Pinchbeck had never bought a clock before, but when he set his sights on the George I walnut-cased astronomical longcase on offer at Mitchells (17.5% buyer’s premium) of Cockermouth on September 11-12 he knew he simply had to have it.

14-09-17-2158NE03A Phillips Berkeley Square.jpg

Phillips join the Mayfair set in Berkeley Square

17 September 2014

Phillips have made a statement of intent by opening their new saleroom and exhibition space in the heart of Mayfair and on the doorstep of Sotheby’s and Bonhams.

14-09-16-2158NE04A McTears auction glasgow.jpg

Remarkable gift that was customised by Constable rediscovered

16 September 2014

On March 29, 1833, John Constable gave his daughter Emily a copy of Isaac Watts’s book ‘Songs, Divine and Moral’.

Fairs fraudster fails in jail sentence appeal

15 September 2014

An appeal for a shorter sentence launched by a conman who scammed dealers at fairs across the country has been dismissed.

Crooked dealer ordered to pay back his spoils

15 September 2014

An antiques dealer who forged signatures of famous people such as Winston Churchill and Robert Louis Stevenson has been told he will have to sell his house to pay back more than £33,000 he took in through the scam.

14-09-11-2157NE06A cameo Bonhams.jpg

Landmark sale of cameos as Ceres collection comes to auction

11 September 2014

Bonhams of Bond Street are to sell what is perhaps the most significant collection of cameos and intaglios seen on the market for decades.

14-09-10-2157NE06A gold coin.jpg

Appeal over stolen coins

10 September 2014

This sixth issue Elizabeth I sovereign (1584-1586) was among seven English 16th and 17th century gold coins stolen from a dealer’s home in Norfolk in August.

14-09-09-2157NE01A burne jones.jpg

A fitting memorial at CSK

09 September 2014

This memorial design featuring a magnificent peacock resting on a bier and surrounded by myrtle leaves was painted by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones in 1886 following the tragic death of Laura Lyttelton, a friend of the artist who died a few days after giving birth to a son.

14-09-08-2157NE02A.jpg

Auction house charged over ivory sale

08 September 2014

A West London auction house is facing court, charged with the sale of a modern elephant ivory carving under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) (CITES) Regulations 1997.

14-09-08-2157NE04B Victoria Cross spink.jpg

Spink show recalls WWI’s first VCs

08 September 2014

Spink are reuniting the first two Victoria Crosses awarded during the First World War as part of a unique exhibition focusing upon the first four months of the conflict.

14-09-08-2157NE04A Dante Gabriel Rossetti.jpg

William Morris Gallery focuses on Rossetti’s obsession

08 September 2014

The William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow is to explore the intensity with which pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti depicted model Jane Morris, William’s wife.

14-09-05-2157CO01J Dix Noonan Webb.jpg

Money wars – the £1000 note targeted by the Nazis

05 September 2014

The highest denomination note issued by the Bank of England, this £1000 banknote is a rare survivor of a limited run that was cut short as the Nazis tried to destabilise the British economy.

14-09-05-2157FM01E.jpg

Meet the 10-year-old antiques dealer

05 September 2014

Logistics and costs are not necessarily high on Ridley Partridge’s agenda, but his dad certainly knows all about them.

14-09-03-2156NE03A 25 Blythe Road.jpg

25 Blythe Road adds photographs to the sales roster

03 September 2014

Photographs are the latest discipline to join the roster of sales at 25 Blythe Road, the West London auction hub built around arms and armour auctioneer Thomas Del Mar Ltd.

14-09-02-2156NE04A Moore Allen.jpg

Saleroom throws open its (large) doors to a revamp

02 September 2014

Auctioneer Philip Allwood is pictured here looking pleased as punch to be standing in front of a big barn door because it marks the completion of Moore Allen & Innocent’s new offices.

14-09-02-2156NE05A Dylan Thomas auction.jpg

Life imitates art for Dylan Thomas’ boathouse gate

02 September 2014

In May actor Michael Sheen starred in a BBC Wales TV adaptation of ‘Under Milk Wood’ and has taken part in several Dylan Thomas tributes in this centenary year of the poet’s birth.

14-09-01-2156NE01A mahogany table.jpg

Church’s table turns out to be a blessing in disguise

01 September 2014

This George III neoclassical style mahogany serving table was entered for sale at Nesbits in Southsea from a church in Portsea to raise funds for repairs. It is thought the table was given to them to replace the altar table destroyed by bomb damage.

News

Categories