Art and antiques news from 2009

THE price of silver rose sharply over the course of last week, up almost £1 to £7.75 per ounce by Friday.

According to legend, during the English Civil War, a Royalist descendant of Sir Christopher Harris (c.1553-1625) of Radford, Devon, hid the family silver in a cave before fleeing, fearing for his life.

It was, wrote Chicago Now, website of the Chicago Tribune, 'The greatest flea market find'.

ATG's www.the-saleroom.com launches the first live internet bidding sale in Beijing this Friday. The Seasonal Sale at Huachen Auctions offered an online catalogue in both English and Chinese via the-saleroom's online platform.

INTERNATIONAL Antiques and Collectors’ Fairs (IACF) will attempt to put clear air between next year’s events held at the Newark and Nottingham Showground and those organised by Arthur Swallow Fairs at the Lincolnshire Showground.

THIS German clockwork tinplate limousine made a surprise £38,000 at Tennants of Leyburn at their latest toy sale.

ATLANTIQUE City, for many years one of North America’s key antiques and collectables fairs, has been axed.

IN January next year, Christie’s are planning to open a high-tech storage facility in New York.

THIS rare Meissen figure group modelled by J.J. Kandler, titled The Stormy Lovers sold for £26,000 at Paul Beighton's latest sale.

POLICE are on the look out for two people following the theft of a pair of 19th century Coalport vases from an antiques centre in Shropshire.

FROM September 25 to 27 The London Art Book Fair will be launched at the newly expanded Whitechapel Art Gallery in Whitechapel High Street London E1.

A NEW crop of fake carriage clocks, believed to be made in China, has appeared on eBay.

LONDON’S Courtauld Institute of Art have stated that their Witt and Conway Libraries will continue to remain open to the public five days a week and their Photographic Survey collections will remain accessible by appointment.

The annual Auctioneers vs. Dealers charity football match sponsored by ATG will be taking place on Friday, September 4 in Roehampton.

THIS Russian icon depicting St George slaying the dragon generated a lively competition when offered on the third day of Bellmans' sale in Wisborough Green, West Sussex.

Mallett have put on hold plans to leave Bond Street. In the wake of a massive rent rise last year, the London dealers announced their intended departure from the luxury goods thoroughfare, but they have been unable to pass on the lease of the building.

Speculation of financial turmoil at Ritchies continues after the established Toronto auctioneers closed their doors for a fortnight, laying off their entire staff.

A SUBSTANTIAL, and previously unpublished, collection of letters written by various members of the Bloomsbury Group to Helen Anrep (1885-1965) is to be sold by the East Sussex auctioneers Gorringes in Lewes on September 3, along with a collection of artworks by members of the group consigned from the same estate.

BBC Homes & Antiques magazine is launching a Save Our Antiques Shops campaign in its November issue, promoting the advantages of shopping for antiques and supporting businesses which add to the character of Britain's high streets.

Furniture Futures is the first in a new series of biennial design symposia at the Victoria & Albert Museum.