News

THE Office of Fair Trading are to conduct a survey of internet shopping habits and will report their findings next spring.

Long-time Kent auctioneer Mervyn Carey is to retire after more than four decades in the business. He held his last sale at the church hall in Tenterden last Wednesday.

EBAY have posted first quarter net revenues of $1.39bn, just over predictions and 35 per cent up on the first quarter of 2005.

SWIFT-Find, the international registry of valuable items, have bought the Trace stolen valuables database from the Invaluable Group.

Art London moves from its summer slot to autumn and also changes location for its eighth staging.

AS ATG went to press, the price of silver appeared to be steadying following the dramatic fall seen late last week.

A Bedford woman who was downsizing homes decided to enter this piece of family silver into her local auction house. It proved to be the stellar entry in W&H Peacock’s April 7 antiques sale when, after generating considerable pre-sale attention from the London silver trade, it far outstripped the saleroom’s unpublished expectations of around £3000-5000, selling to one of their number for £28,000 (plus 12.5% premium).