London

Following a successful conclusion to one of the largest cases of its type in years, a serial forger has been jailed for the faking and forging of antique silver flatware. Here ATG publish material accumulated during the investigation in an attempt to minimise the impact of the fakes on the spoon market.

THIS extremely rare 18th Century Khyber knife was the highlight of the London sale conducted by Norfolk-based sporting gun specialist Holts, where it sold for a surprise £38,000.

DEALERS and auctioneers have had a timely reminder of the dangers of accepting cheques as payment, with the jailing of a conwoman who amassed over £2m worth of art and antiques.

THE question of authenticity remains high on the agenda in the Banksy market after a last-minute intervention by the self-styled guerrilla artist had a devastating effect on Lyon & Turnbull’s latest attempt to break into the London contemporary art market.

The volume of artist Louis Wain’s distinctive ceramic animals making a sudden appearance on the market has raised the possibility that some could be reproductions or fakes. Seven have been offered at various UK salerooms in the last month, while two suspect examples have already been pulled from a Bonhams sale.

WORK to restore the Art Deco facade of Alfies Antique Market in London’s Marylebone has now been finished to much acclaim from the local area.

As experienced art dealers discussed the £95.6m sale of 233 new works by Damien Hirst (b.1965), it was the word 'celebrity' that cropped up the most to explain the phenomenal prices seen at the Beautiful Inside my Head Forever sale.

CHRISTIE’S have announced that their sale of the joint stock of the two London dealerships Hotspur and Jeremy will be at a dedicated auction at their King Street rooms on November 20.

The Tate announced a record year for acquisitions in their 2007/8 Annual Report. The Tate Collection aquired 494 works, valued at £63.1m, of which 320 were gifts and bequests from collectors and artists.

Following a confidential agreement between the parties involved, the Fatimid rock crystal ewer ‘sold’ for £220,000 at Lawrences of Crewkerne will reappear at Christie’s next month with an estimate of over £3m.

Spink are to offer a £1m Treasury Note. Dated London 30 August 1948, and printed with the red serial number 000008, it is one of only two surviving examples from the nine thought to have been printed in connection with the Marshall Plan.

In October, South London auctioneers Rosebery’s will be conducting their inaugural auction in St James’s.

The British Library has secured the oldest surviving roll of arms in English history after a successful fundraising effort to keep it in the UK. The Dering Roll dates from the last quarter of the 13th century and depicts 324 coats of arms, approximately a quarter of the English baronage during the time of Edward I, making it a vital record for the study of heraldry in medieval England.

THE owners of the King’s Road antiques centre Antiquarius have had their plans to redevelop the premises rejected by the council for the second time.

Portobello Road is one of three finalists for the Great Street Award 2009.

Asian Art in London 2008 has been extended by four days.

The sixth annual Dealers vs Auctioneers charity football match was the most closely fought yet seen at the Bank of England sports ground, Roehampton, home to the event since its inception.