Auctioneers

It was the end of an era in Oxford when Ducker & Son, the bespoke shoemaker and home of the Oxford brogue, sadly closed down last November. The venerable 6 Turl Street store had traded in the centre of the city since 1898.

Drawing spectacular bidding at Lawrences of Crewkerne, this rare Chinese altar vase was knocked down at over 150-times estimate at the Somerset saleroom’s latest fine art auction. It was thought to have been specially commissioned by the Qing court for ceremonial use in palaces and temples.

Easter Rising 1916 memorabilia may be treasured now by collectors, especially after last year’s centenary, but a medal just sold at auction in Ireland once ended up in a bin rather than proudly displayed.

Edinburgh auctioneer Lyon & Turnbull has hired art historian and dealer Bendor Grosvenor as a non-executive director.

What is the next collecting area about to take off when it comes to toys? As detailed often in ATG, rare Star Wars figures are now making big money. Lego is another popular market as 40 and 50-somethings settle down, get wealthier and get nostalgic about the toys they played with as kids.

Sotheby's have appointed Brooke Lampley as vice chairman of their Fine Art division. She will join the company after 12 years at rival Christie’s.

Keep Calm and Carry On is the now famous instruction from the Second World War thanks to a plethora of copycat items inspired by the poster which was never officially issued.

Not many wartime flags survive to be sold at auction due to their inevitably fragile nature, but those flown by Allied forces during the D-Day landings must have been particularly precious as mementos.

A private treaty sale of a Benin bronze head helped Woolley & Wallis retain its status as the UK’s leading regional saleroom in 2016.

Christie’s have appointed Furio Rinaldi as associate specialist in the Old Master Drawings department in New York.

The company behind online art and antiques auctioneer Auctionata and Paddle8 has filed for preliminary insolvency to restructure its business.

The beautiful Japanese woodblock prints created by artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige inspired similar works across the world and most famously the paintings of Van Gogh.

An auction of 3000 items from the estate of the late antiquarian book dealer Thomas Schuster is big news for fans of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Sotheby’s is taking legal action to recover its losses over the sale of a ‘fake’ Italian Old Master.

A Bronze Age artefact from Anatolia has been returned to Turkey after a ceremony at the Turkish Embassy in London.

Unless you have been in a galaxy far, far away for quite some time, you will have heard of Luke Skywalker, Ewoks and Han Solo. But have you heard of a Vlix?

Sotheby’s Geneva has relocated to a new office, exhibition space and saleroom in the banking quarter of the Swiss city.

The beautiful Beatrix Potter children’s books are highly collectable in themselves but the author’s world provides a far wider and very popular collecting scene.