Latest News Articles by Laura Chesters

Stephen Fry twitter

Ivory protestors descend on Westminster as Stephen Fry lends support to trade ban

16 November 2016

Protestors organised by wildlife charity Action for Elephants are demonstrating outside of The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in London today to make the case for banning the ivory trade in the UK.

Marinello

Art Recovery Group’s database goes non-profit

16 November 2016

Art Recovery Group, founded by Chris Marinello three years ago as a rival to long-established The Art Loss Register, has split the firm to create a not-for-profit organisation called Artive.

William Hogarth’s ‘The Christening’

Export block for William Hogarth’s first painted satirical scene

16 November 2016

The government is hoping to find a UK-based buyer to pay £1.2m for an 18th century William Hogarth painting to prevent it from leaving the country.

Jussi Pylkkanen

BBC goes behind the scenes at Christie’s

16 November 2016

Auction house Christie’s will take centre stage in a new BBC documentary this weekend. The company, which celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, is the subject of a two-part look behind the scenes at some of its biggest auctions.

Steve Cohen offloads his stake in Sotheby’s

15 November 2016

US billionaire investor and art collector Steven Cohen has sold his stake in Sotheby’s by offloading his remaining one million shares.

Portobello plans

New £10m Portobello market development revealed

15 November 2016

A charity aiming to redevelop the vintage market end of London’s Portobello Road has revealed a new £10m scheme.

Picasso owl vase

Picasso picked up near Plymouth goes to auction

14 November 2016

Plymouth Auction Rooms made a surprise find on a recent visit to a remote Cornish cottage on the banks of the river Tamar. The auction firm was valuing a mixture of Cornish art and collectables at the address when it came across a Pablo Picasso vase.

Glyn Cywarch

Lord Harlech to sell family collection at Bonhams

14 November 2016

The new Lord Harlech, music video-maker Jasset Ormsby Gore, is offering 400 items at auction from his family estate.

Vic & Bob

Comedian Vic Reeves' artworks to be auctioned in Kent

11 November 2016

TV star Vic Reeves may be best known for his zany comedy double act with Bob Mortimer, but he is also said to be an accomplished artist, counting Damien Hirst as a fan.

St James's

London’s gallery districts Mayfair and St James’s get special planning protection

10 November 2016

The historic art and antiques districts of Mayfair and St James’s last night received designated protection by Westminster City Council planners as part of a new policy for central London.

Prince of Wales

Mason museum buys rare glass painting of Grand Master

09 November 2016

The Library and Museum of Freemasonry in London has revealed the latest addition to its collection.

Art dealer Philip Mould

Dealers Philip Mould and Simon Phillips weigh into St James's planning row

09 November 2016

Dealers Philip Mould and Simon Phillips have intervened in the fight to save Jermyn Street's tapestry gallery and archive in St James's.

Regency facade

Call for bids for Regency-period stonework

08 November 2016

A Regency-style façade from Cirencester that has been in storage for a decade will be up for sale in Guildford later this month.

S Franses

London dealers plan pressure group to protect St James’s

08 November 2016

Gallery owners in the St James’s area of London are to form a pressure group in the hope of preserving the area as an art and antiques hub.

L&T debate panel

Digital technology drives younger dealers and the art market in China

07 November 2016

The younger generation in China is fuelling the art market and the trade must embrace digital technology to compete, according to a panel of Asian art experts.

Sir Nicholas Winton

Kindertransport hero Sir Nicholas Winton's treasures sold at auction

07 November 2016

The inscribed personal bible of Sir Nicholas Winton drew fervent bidding at auction last week in Oxfordshire.

Barry Cunningham

JK Rowling's hand-written and personalised 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' comes to auction

05 November 2016

The publisher of JK Rowling's Harry Potter books is to auction his copy of 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' at Sotheby’s next month.

Aubrey Dawson

New auction firm sets up in Maidenhead

04 November 2016

A new auction business is to open in the Berkshire town of Maidenhead with a debut sale planned for January 21.

Nixi Cura

Historians should value the art market, says Chinese art expert

03 November 2016

Art historians should embrace the trade and understand the value of the art market, argues a programme director at Christie’s Education.

Fears mount over US ‘collectables’ law

03 November 2016

A little-publicised California law aimed at protecting buyers of sports memorabilia is threatening to impact the wider art and antiques sector.