2017

For more than 10 years a banner sat stowed away in a cupboard at a little charity shop in Leeds after it was donated. Little did the staff know that one day that same once-forgotten item would sell at auction for a hammer price of £13,600.

One of pop artist Andy Warhol’s first self-portraits was hammered down at £5.2m in a London sale.

More than $3.1bn of art, antiques and collectables sell online each year but around a fifth of dealers still have no plans to begin selling online, according to a recent report.

The novel that introduced the world to James Bond, ‘Casino Royale’ of 1953, has long been a key target for collectors. Anyone who laid out 10/6d for a copy over 60 years ago and has kept good care of the book will have done themselves or their descendants proud.

‘Fine Arts Paris’, the new fair in Paris being held in November at the Palais Brongniart , has announced its exhibitor list for its inaugural staging.

The Vauxhall Art Car Boot has its next run at a new location: The Workshop in London’s Lambeth High Street on July 9, where it will also host a selection of vintage and antiques.

Police are appealing to the trade to help locate jewellery stolen in Shropshire.

The bomb release button from the Lancaster bomber of 617 Squadron that released the ‘bouncing bomb’ which destroyed the Möhne Dam on May 17, 1943 is being offered at auction for the first time.

Max Beckmann’s terrifying image of hell, representing the horror of the Nazi regime in Germany, has sold at Christie’s for a record-breaking £32m hammer price to dealer Larry Gagosian.

The 45th annual Art & Antiques Fair Olympia opened last night to bustling crowds and some early sales.

A bronze family group by Henry Moore (1898-1986) led Christie’s evening sale of Modern British & Irish art in London last night, selling at £3.3m to an Asian collector.

It may seem a blindingly obvious thing to say, but being a war artist can be a dangerous business. Eric Ravilious, now one of the most sought-after Modern British artists, was never seen again after joining a Second World War rescue flight which itself ended up as missing in action.

The BBC’s Antiques Roadshow witnessed its third £1m valuation while filming at the Black Country Living Museum in the West Midlands last week.

The organisers of the Olympia fair, which starts today (Monday 26 June), have reiterated their support for efforts to stop the illegal trade in poached ivory as the event faces a protest by elephant campaigners on Saturday, 1 July.

A painting by UK-born Australian artist Sir Russell Drysdale (1912-1981) has fetched AUD$2.97m when it was sold by Mossgreen in Adelaide on Sunday 25 June. The price is the fifth highest at auction for any Australian artwork.

Three men have been charged in a New York court in connection with a $400,000 scam to sell fake artworks by Damien Hirst.

In our weekend series, Antiques Trade Gazette brings you a selection of quotes from dealers, auctioneers, collectors and others. This week we cover one dealer’s saving grace, one collector’s passion for jelly moulds and one special mining lamp.

An action group that campaigns against modern ivory poaching is to stage a protest against the trade in antique ivory at the Art and Antiques Fair, Olympia, on 1 July.

An auction of a banjolele at Hansons Auctioneers will be music to the ears of George Formby fans later this month.

Frieze Masters returns to Regent’s Park, London, this autumn with more than 130 exhibitors showing a selection of art covering 6000 years.