International

A series of antique weapons were sold by Bonhams earlier this month missing their ivory elements after the items had been surrendered to the UK’s Border Force.

A signed copy of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 promising freedom to all slaves in the rebel states will be offered at an upcoming Sotheby’s sale in New York.

A watch by Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823) became the second most expensive piece by the Swiss maker when it sold to a private Swiss museum for triple-estimate SFr3.25m (£2.35m) including premium at Christie’s Geneva.

The Oppenheimer Blue diamond set the world record for any jewel sold at auction at Christie’s Geneva yesterday.

Eric Bijzet has become the latest expert to leave Sotheby’s as he plans to set up on his own as a dealer back home in Amsterdam.

Auctioneers Phillips have changed their buyer’s premium with immediate effect.

Christie’s are to sell another major slice of deaccessioned material from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, just under a year after they held a dedicated auction devoted to a dispersal from the Met’s holdings of English furniture and works of art.

Phillips have announced the appointment of Cheyenne Westphal as chairman, reporting to CEO Edward Dolman. Formerly Sotheby’s worldwide head of Contemporary art, she will start in her new role in 2017.

Just under $1.2bn changed hands at the top-end of the art market in New York this week as Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips all held their Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary auctions over seven days for the first time. Here is ATG’s pick of individual highlights sold across the week.

Renowned classic car auctioneer Max Girardo has left RM Sotheby’s to set up his own London-based brokerage, Girardo & Co, which will deal “in only the highest quality cars available to the market”.

Joseph Chait, a 38-year-old senior auction administrator with IM Chait gallery and auction house in Beverly Hills, has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to smuggle items of rhino horn, ivory, coral and a hornbill casque.

The Palm Beach Show Group have announced the launch of a new fair in Miami Beach.

The Union Customs Code (UCC), designed to standardise how customs information is processed, became law on May 1.

A portrait by Eugène Delacroix redolent with associations to Nineteenth century French Romanticism has been secured by the Paris museum dedicated to his work.

A rare American stamp stolen in 1955 in one of the most famous thefts in philatelic history has been recovered after turning up at Spink.

Russian allegations that ISIS is netting $150-$200m annually from the sale of looted Syrian and Iraqi antiquities have been dismissed by the International Association of Dealers in Ancient Art (IADAA).

The Sotheby’s Hong Kong Spring series of sales closed today chalking up a total of HK$502.8m/USD$64.5m/GB£242.3m.

Christie’s Paris are to sell two figures of mourners as part of their European Sculpture and Works of Art sale on June 15.

Sotheby’s has announced the appointment of two new co-European chairmen as well as the establishment of a new strategy board which is set to drive growth.

The prosecution in the trial of the Cols Rouges – the erstwhile portering staff at Hôtel Drouot, the communal saleroom facility used by most Paris auctioneers – have called for prison sentences of up to five years and fines of €250,000 for those found guilty of theft and criminal conspiracy.