News

Christie’s South Kensington have ceased regular sales of vintage posters. The leading player in the popular collecting field say that they will now offer posters for sale in online auctions when the opportunity to sell an exceptional collection arises.

A full-scale test model of the satellite Sputnik-1 sold at Bonhams New York yesterday for $220,000 (£167,012), outstripping a $10,000-15,000 estimate.

Sotheby’s established an auction record for a watch by John Arnold (1736-99) when a large silver pocket chronometer of 1781 sold at £460,000.

Sotheby’s have appointed Claudia Dwek as chairman of contemporary art, Europe. She will remain as co-chairman of Sotheby’s Italy.

Christie’s has experienced a sharp fall in overall sales. In figures released earlier today the company reported sales of £2.1bn for the first half of 2016, which compared to £2.9bn for the same period in 2015.

Increased risk around compliance, global trade and even terrorism suggests antiques firms need to insure a wider range of activities. But how can they do so without breaking the bank?

Roseberys' latest fine art auction produced particularly sound results from the Asian art collection of Sir Anthony Hastings George, proving that a good provenance is still key.