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IF major auctions in New York are anything to go by, then the amount of money being spent on blue-chip pieces of Modern and Contemporary art is now almost back to the level seen before the market crashed 18 months ago.

THE return of free-spending at the very top end of the art market continued apace at last week’s Impressionist and Modern sales series in New York as boom-time levels of bidding were seen on the blockbuster lots. For the second time this year, a new record was set for any artwork ever sold at auction.

AN American collector who sued Sotheby’s, alleging they concealed a financial interest in, and inflated the price of, a painting that he bought for almost $10m, has lost his case.

EBAY users in the US are questioning the merits of the feedback system after a buyer from Florida who left negative comments for a seller has been hit by a $15,000 lawsuit for defamation.

ANTIQUITIES and other cultural property claimed by Italy as part of its heritage may soon be barred from entering the United States unless accompanied by Italian export permits. This could have a significant effect on the trade and transport of classical coins, for which the US is one of the largest markets.

NEW York art gallery Berry-Hill have had a number of artworks seized after a judge ruled it had defaulted on a $9.5m loan.

HERITAGE Auction Galleries will open a new gallery in New York in September. They have leased a ground-floor space, located at 445 Park Avenue, between 56th and 57th Streets.

TIFFANY have lost on most counts in their appeal against a ruling in a US federal district court backing eBay over the sale of the firm’s jewellery.

A MANUSCRIPTS dealer from Cheltenham has uncovered a major theft of letters from an American university. The case is now being investigated by the FBI.

DISGRACED New York dealer Lawrence Salander, erstwhile co-owner of Manhattan’s Salander-O’Reilly Gallery, has admitted to orchestrating a $120m art fraud.

THE New York International Tribal and Textile Arts Show, normally held in May, has been cancelled this year.

NEW rules this summer mean that every work of art transported to and from the United States by a commercial passenger airliner must be screened individually by US airport security.

TAKE a beautiful sitter, a leading portraitist, add a touch of glamour and offer with an appetising estimate. Such is the recipe for a riotous bidding feast.

ACTION Comics ushered in the age of superheroes when its first issue hit the news stands in June 1938. On its cover was a curious character dressed in skintight blue and red lifting a green Chevrolet above his head, and the course of American pop culture was changed forever.

MORE transparency and regulation at New York auctions is promised if a bill recently introduced in the state legislature is passed.

FOLLOWING the severe winter weather that has struck the East Coast of the US, Freemans of Philadelphia chose to postpone for a week the sale of the Lehman Brothers Collection Part II.

John Ward, head of Sotheby’s New York silver department, said it was the piece of American silver that had it all: “Large size, great condition, beautiful design by an idiosyncratic maker, fresh provenance, and a great story.”

MAJOR American museums played an active role as both buyers and sellers in the latest Old Master sales in New York.

SCIENTISTS in the United States have unveiled a ground-breaking piece of technology to identify fake pictures.

AN agreement over the disputed Blue Period Picasso painting The Absinthe Drinker may well lead to a clearer legal definition of what constitutes art sold under Nazi duress.