2019

How to put into words the experience of buying Sotheby’s, selling Leonard Cohen’s love letters or blocking a huge, grotesque crab from export? A few art and antiques world experts had a go – find out what they said with our quotes of the week.

Sotheby’s chalked up a premium-inclusive total of just under €11.5m (£10.25m) when it sold the Marceau Rivière collection of African art in Paris.

In the closing weeks of June, London is packed with commercial shows, museum exhibitions and art fairs.

ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week includes a Tiffany tiger orchid brooch and a pair of Chinese huanghuali armchairs of a type often called ‘official's hat’ chairs.

West Dean College of Arts and Conservation has launched a new horology bursary of up to £20,000.

The most popular stories on this website over the last week included news of the £6.2m cheque that finally made the Trotter brothers millionaires selling at an auction in Bristol.

A selection of appointments across the art and antiques market.

The gun believed to be the weapon used by Vincent van Gogh to shoot himself in the summer of 1890 was knocked down at an €130,000 (£116,070) at auction in Paris.

Two historic US flags, one a black regimental banner from the Civil War and the other from the D-Day invasions, were knocked down for six-figure sums last week.

A signed hardback copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, plus other associated memorabilia, will be offered at Vectis Auctions in Stockton-on-Tees.

A ‘colossal and extraordinary grotesque grinning crab’ by the Martin Brothers that sold at auction last year has been temporarily barred from export from the UK.

A set of pier tables and mirrors from the Thomas Chippendale workshop has been accepted in lieu for the nation and allocated to the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Sotheby’s has been sold to BidFair USA, a company owned by media and telecom entrepreneur and art collector Patrick Drahi.

Letters from Canadian poet, singer-songwriter and novelist Leonard Cohen to his muse Marianne Ihlen have sold for a total $700,800 ($876,000 including buyer’s premium).

With estimates from £300-1500, here are five previews from upcoming sales this week.

A lock of Ludwig van Beethoven’s hair that was “evidently given” by the great composer to the pianist Anton Halm in 1826 was knocked down at £28,000 at a Sotheby’s auction in London last week.

Just how important is BADA? And what is the most famous weapon in art history? Find out what the art and antiques trade had to say on these questions with our weekly quotes roundup.

The most popular stories on this website over the last week included news of a rare Roman gold coin found by a metal detectorist in a field in Kent selling at a London auction for £460,000.

Chelsea and Mayfair are two major centres for the art trade, particularly in the summer when events like Masterpiece and London Art Week (respectively) arrive.

Retailer Oliver Brown has reported a boost in the sale of antique silk top hats ahead of Royal Ascot next week.