UK

DORCHESTER auctioneers Duke’s sale of the contents of Melplash Court, near Bridport, became one of the highest grossing sales ever conducted by a provincial auctioneer thanks to the phenomenal strength of the Chinese market.

A RARE group of four hand-coloured lithographs of Sydney from c.1826 by travel artist Augustus Earle (1793-1838) saw interest from both hemispheres of the globe emerge at Bonhams' (20% buyer's premium) in Oxford on September 8.

THIS exquisite example of Roman metalwork, a late 1st to mid 3rd century bronze parade helmet with its haunting face mask, represented the find of a lifetime for a Cumbrian metal detectorist when it was unearthed in May of this year.

LA Minotauromachie from 1935 is arguably the masterpiece of the Pablo Picasso's 2000 or so different printed works.

WARTIME works by C.R.W. Nevinson (1889-1946) are iconic, sought after and scarce – a potent commercial combination.

THE famous Amen series of diamond point engraved Jacobite goblets, made c.1745-50, have long been emblems of Scottish nationalism. Yet it is widely assumed that the engraver of many of them was English.

THANKS to a clever bit of detective work by one of its curators, the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle has been able to reunite a porcelain cup and saucer that have separated for over 200 years.

FIREFIGHTERS are investigating the cause of a blaze at an antiques centre in Chipping Norton on September 5.

WITH the new auction season getting underway, the London houses have been rushing to announce their star lots as the treasures from aristocratic collections continue to emerge in the saleroom.

AUCTIONEERS Bonhams and Irish saleroom Adam’s have decided to end their 12-year arrangement of holding joint sales in Dublin.

LONDON-based Russian art specialists MacDougall’s have appointed three people to establish an Old Masters and 19th century European art department.

An independent report has confirmed that antiques are environmentally friendly with a piece of antique furniture likely to have a carbon footprint 16 times lower than that of a newly manufactured item.

THIS 8½in (21cm) English porcelain jug painted with a cavalryman on horseback probably dates from c.1817 when, following rioting in the spring, magistrates in Manchester decided to form the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry Cavalry.

A COLLECTION of Augustus John drawings, consigned by the family of Dame Elizabeth Taylor, will be sold by a West London auction house on September 28.

PIERS Motley has taken over the Bicton Street Auction Rooms in Exmouth from Martin Spencer-Thomas who has retired after 25 years as an auctioneer and valuer in Devon.

TECHNOLOGY is increasingly important in the art market but a pair of oils by the Anglo-Australian artist William Blamire Young (1862-1935), is believed to be the first significant work identified and consigned to auction through Christie’s iPhone application.

Special Auction Services (SAS), founded in 1991, is moving to larger premises in October. Currently based in Kennetholme, Midgham, near Reading they are relocating six miles away to New Greenham Park, Newbury.

THIEVES have stolen a safe containing £25,000 worth of silver from a church in Woodmangreen, just north of Midhurst, Sussex.

THE five City of London livery companies with particular connections with wood (Carpenters, Furniture-Makers, Joiners, Turners and Upholders) are currently raising funds for the Arboretum Trust with a charity auction titled Branching Out.

CHISWICK Auctions are set to sell one of the most important early paintings by the German Expressionist Ludwig Meidner (1884-1966) to have come to market in recent years.