London

The writing desk and chair used by Charles Dickens as he penned a number of his later classics have been bought by a museum based at the author’s former central London home.

A significant reward is being offered for the recovery of 125 watches stolen from an antiques store in north London.

The Art Loss Register has launched a database dedicated to stolen watches, one they say can help anyone buying, selling or providing loans against second-hand wristwatches.

Four lots were withdrawn at the eleventh hour by Christie’s last week amid fresh allegations in the media over illicit antiquities at auction.

A career criminal who stole more than £700,000 worth of Fabergé items and sold them to a crack dealer for just £100 has been jailed for 28 months.

A stellar consignment of paintings and antiques from Castle Howard will be offered at Sotheby’s this summer.

Dealers in London’s jewellery quarter are still waiting to discover if they were among the victims of the theft at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit.

Dulwich Picture Gallery launched a long overdue show of watercolours by Eric Ravilious (1903-42) last week, an artist unswayed by fashion whose paintings and designs encapsulate the spirit of inter-War England.

This 5in (12cm) high pair of Victorian salts in the form of kangaroos made by Bond Street silversmiths Hunt & Roskell sold for £18,000 at Catherine Southon’s latest sale at Farleigh Court Golf Club near East Croydon.

Over 700 lots from West Horsley Place in Surrey, the home of the late Mary Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe, are going under the hammer at Sotheby’s in May.

Lord Ashcroft is best known for Victoria Crosses as a collector, but the bravery of the Dambusters inspired his latest attempts to buy gallantry awards.

A remarkable hoard of coins shedding light on the power struggles between Vikings and Anglo-Saxons has come onto the open market in a highly unusual sale.

This portrait by Glyn Warren Philpot (1884-1937) was the star performer of pictures formerly in Sir Noël Coward’s collection sold at Christie’s South Kensington.

The BADA Antiques & Fine Art Fair opened last Wednesday on a sunny Duke of York Square in Chelsea, welcoming a steady stream of visitors.

Stable year-on-year values across art and antique exports as a whole mask major changes in influence among the UK’s trading partners in 2014.

“Most of us will never experience space, which explains why space-flown items are in such high demand. Their travels imbue them with an almost mystical aura.”

COMMENT: The TEFAF Report shows that the art market has fully recovered since the 2008 financial crash, but still faces a number of challenges, such as late or non-payment.

Christie’s South Kensington celebrated their 40th anniversary year with a 1970s themed party at their Old Brompton Road saleroom. Current staff, former employees and others connected with CSK turned out in droves on March 4 to raise a glass to the auction house.

How do you prevent your own identity as a dealer being subsumed by that of the fair at which you are exhibiting?

The online-only sale of a modern British gallantry award estimated at a hefty £100,000-120,000 was always going to be an interesting test of the market.