Art and antiques news from 2015

ArtClaim, a new database launched in London this week to track lost, disputed and stolen cultural objects, promises new ways of identifying and recording interests attached to works of art.

Commenting on the wider marketplace in her capacity as chairman of the Society of Fine Art Auctioneers, Helen Carless, chairman and managing director of Lawrences of Crewkerne, gave ATG this brief summary of the feedback received from various SOFAA members.

Philatelic and numismatic specialists Spink have posted annual sales figures of just under £29m.

A High Court judge has dismissed a claim made against Sotheby’s surrounding the sale of a disputed version of Caravaggio’s ‘The Card Sharps’.

Sherborne auctioneers Charterhouse have been instructed to sell the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) pair awarded to a member of 617 Squadron, more commonly known as The Dambusters.

Annual auction totals hold steady across provincial salerooms.

Delftware experts Aronson of Amsterdam have recently reunited this pair of c.1690 Delft ‘bouquetière’ figures depicting William and Mary.

Five truly remarkable items of British wartime history are being offered for sale at J.P. Humbert Auctioneers of Towcester.

Now celebrating 60 years as a Belgian art and antiques fair, the Brussels Art Fair (BRAFA) obviously has staying power and many exhibitors make the return year on year to stand here. ATG’s Anne Crane asked one longstanding exhibitor, Francis Maere of Francis Maere Fine Arts from Brussels, why the event ticks all the boxes for him.

A recent sale in London saw the auction records for Tudor coins rewritten by two choice examples of a golden denomination.

Strict rules governing the integrity of early English coinage could lead to the newly uncovered Aylesbury Hoard revising our perspective of the Anglo-Saxon period.

The discovery of Anglo-Saxon coins near Aylesbury in December is the largest find of its type in 175 years.

The list of five successful applicants for the 2015 TEFAF Maastricht ‘Showcase’ has been announced and, while it includes three Parisian galleries, unusually this year’s selection does not include any British dealers.

An example of the first of America’s iconic silver dollars will be on sale at Spink USA later this month.

As part of Old Master Week in New York, Sotheby’s will sell paintings assembled by J.E. Safra on January 29.

This year’s LAPADA Conference will take place for a third time at The House of Lords, by courtesy of chairman, Lord Chadlington, on Tuesday, February 24. 

The bosses of a Berkshire auction house who defrauded customers of up to £250,000 have been found guilty of nine out of 11 charges.

Police are investigating a theft that occurred at Christie’s King Street premises at the end of last year.