Art and antiques news from 2015

Stephan Ludwig and Ian Goldbart, creators of the group of businesses that includes Dreweatts, Baldwin’s and Mallett, are understood to have left parent company Stanley Gibbons.

The 1864 Ascot Cup, an impressive Victorian silver racing trophy by Garrard, led proceedings at the three-day sale of the Felix Dennis (1947-2014) collection. It sold at £67,000.

Sir Norman Rosenthal, one of the art world’s best known historians and curators, has described the trade side of the business as “a huge mechanism for preserving knowledge and value”.

The charity behind the vision to revamp the ‘vintage market’ end of Portobello Road has amended its designs in the face of opposition to a key proposal.

A Grand Tour cork model of the Temple of Zeus at Paestum has sold for £44,000 at Hampstead Auctions in north London.

An embossed brass belt buckle discovered in the back garden of an old English cottage is a reminder that the very first Australian side to tour England was one made up entirely of Aborigines.

Bimbo The Giant Clown was the beaming white face of Pelham Puppets for decades.

A new law giving online auction buyers additional consumer protection rights has been criticised for throwing dealers and auction houses into a legal grey area.

Timing is everything in sport and at auction. With New Zealand firm favourites to retain the Webb Ellis Cup on October 31, this is surely the moment to sell the jersey of a legendary All Black.

Two leading online bidding platforms with a combined monthly audience of more than 800,000 have forged a partnership targeting fine art auctioneers and buyers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Antiquities dealers ArtAncient were the winners of the best stand award at the 2015 LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair.

Online auction house Auctionata have acquired the London-based online valuation company ValueMyStuff.

The perpetrator of a chilling raid on an antiques shop in Honiton more than a year ago has been jailed.

The sports writers will have turned their attention to the rugby world cup by the time you read this, but at ATG we are focusing on differently shaped balls.

Fans of Lord Snooty and his Pals, Big Eggo, Morgyn the Mighty and dear Contrary Mary were drawn to the Comic Book Auctions sale of September 13 by the appearance of a good copy of the very first issue of the Beano.

LAPADA (the Association of Art & Antiques Dealers) is to relaunch its website as a subscription-based online marketplace in a bid to boost the digital presence of its 600-plus members.

A bizarre story of an artist who claimed her old studio sold pieces of paint spattered carpet as her original work has appeared in the press recently, drawing attention to the thorny issue of copyright and false attribution.

Florence’s longstanding Antiques Fair, the ‘Biennale Internationale dell’ Antiquariato di Firenze’, opens next week in the city’s 17th century Palazzo Corsini, running from September 26 to October 4.

Online dealer marketplace 1stdibs has raised between $50m and $60m from venture capitalists Insight Venture Partners, Fortune magazine reports.

Estimated at £2000-3000 in the printed catalogue, this Italian casket drew such pre-sale interest that it was quickly upgraded in the online catalogue to £5000-7000.