Latest News Articles by Tom Derbyshire
Bidders target ‘exceptionally rare’ gun by an innovative provincial maker
23 January 2023While London gun-makers featured heavily – and lucratively – at Gavin Gardiner’s (25% buyer’s premium) auction of Modern & Vintage Sporting Guns on December 14, provincial makers also got a look in.
Clive Barker: a sculptor who took a hard look at the Swinging Sixties
23 January 2023In August and September 2021 London gallery Whitford Fine Art held an exhibition titled Sand Casts devoted to a British pop artist prominent in the Swinging Sixties who had renewed his successful career in the Nineties.
The greatest hits of arms and armour collector Elvis
23 January 2023Birmingham-born Roy Elvis (1944- 2022) inherited his family interest in antiques and started collecting furniture and decorative arts from an early age.
Acrimonious royal family split detailed in letters now up at auction
18 January 2023Not THAT split, but the 1936 abdication of Edward VIII which also caused recriminations, as letters at Catherine Southon's sale show - plus other auctions offer many unpublished photos of Princess Di and paintings said to be by Queen Victoria.
Pick of the week: Dinky labels drive demand to high level
16 January 2023Models produced for promotional purposes usually benefit from considerable rarity value and so it proved when a Dinky toy came up for auction at Stockton-on-Tees saleroom Vectis.
An English medieval candlestick is among five lots to watch this week
16 January 2023With estimates from £200, here are five previews of items coming up at auction this week.
Previews: issue 2576
16 January 2023A selection of 13 upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.
Lust and found: van Gogh film poster
16 January 2023Top price at the Ewbank’s (25% buyer’s premium) poster auction on January 6 came for a design that was a work of art in itself.
Strawberry Hill House and the ‘Great Sale’
16 January 2023In 1842, following renowned writer Horace Walpole’s (1717-97) death, the contents of Strawberry Hill House were dispersed in a famous auction, known as the ‘Great Sale’.
Old Master paintings go on long term loan to boost Strawberry Hill House collection
11 January 2023Strawberry Hill House has recreated the look of Horace Walpole’s art collection with loans of fifty Old Masters pictures.
A William & Mary delft plate is among six lots to watch
09 January 2023With estimates from £20, here are six previews of items coming up at auction this week.
Previews: issue 2575
09 January 2023A selection of 16 upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.
Previews: issue 2574
02 January 2023A selection of eight upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.
Four Derby winners reunited after museum’s auction success
19 December 2022A set of four miniature oil paintings depicting Derby-winning racehorses belonging to John Bowes (1811-85), co-founder of The Bowes Museum, has been reunited after being bought at auction.
He saw the Hand of God
19 December 2022The soaring demand for sport memorabilia is evident from the result for the shirt of a player who did not even make it on to the pitch for a famous game.
1966 and all that: when England made history
19 December 2022A hat-trick of six-figure prices was achieved for England 1966 World Cup hero Alan Ball’s (1945-2007) winner’s medal, cup final shirt and World Cup cap.
Unusual golf clubs chip in at regional firms
19 December 2022The Higgs Deliverer ‘rake iron’ club was an attempt to solve a tricky golf problem: how to hit the ball out of sand, high grass or similar terrain.
Previews: issue 2573
19 December 2022A selection of seven upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.
Scottish football shirt bought by a Texas Ranger
19 December 2022A happy football fan in Texas – quite possibly with Caledonian roots – is now the proud owner of the first jersey to come to auction from Rangers’ 1972 European Cup Winners’ Cup triumph over Dynamo Moscow.
Olympic swimmer Rose set a gold standard
19 December 2022Murray Rose (1939-2012) became the youngest Olympian to win three gold medals during one Games, aged just 17 in 1956.