US

...but it's still bad for you US: HOT news from health-conscious America. After years of campaigning from pro-winers, the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has agreed to allow the words DO CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT THE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF DRINKING WINE to be added to the back label, as well as the statutory health warning. So now it’s official. Not only is wine bad for you, but it’s good for you as well.

US: A ‘FINE & RARE’ sale held by Pacific Book Auctions on February 25 saw strong bidding for botanical plate collections, with a very rare first edition of Description des plantes nouvelles et peu connues, cultivés dans le jardin de J.M.Cels selling at $22,500 (£13,390).

US: THE object pictured here provided, literally and figuratively, the crowning glory of a highly successful $3.65m sale of Judaica at Sotheby’s New York on March 16.

GAVELNET.COM, the San Francisco-based Internet auction specialists have denied claims that they are winding up their UK operation.

Sotheby’s evening sale of Contemporary art in New York on November 13 achieved the highest total for any auction in the company’s history.