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THIS rare Meissen figure group modelled by J.J. Kandler, titled The Stormy Lovers sold for £26,000 at Paul Beighton's latest sale.

POLICE are on the look out for two people following the theft of a pair of 19th century Coalport vases from an antiques centre in Shropshire.

A NEW crop of fake carriage clocks, believed to be made in China, has appeared on eBay.

Speculation of financial turmoil at Ritchies continues after the established Toronto auctioneers closed their doors for a fortnight, laying off their entire staff.

A SUBSTANTIAL, and previously unpublished, collection of letters written by various members of the Bloomsbury Group to Helen Anrep (1885-1965) is to be sold by the East Sussex auctioneers Gorringes in Lewes on September 3, along with a collection of artworks by members of the group consigned from the same estate.

A STOLEN chequebook has been used to purchase items from at least two antiques shops in Ludlow, Shropshire.

THIS portable regulator signed Thwaites and Reed, London sold for £16,500 (plus 19.5 per cent buyer's premium) at Lawrences of Crewkerne, Somerset on July 10.

FOR an item almost destined for a landfill site, this delapidated red leather chesterfield, found in the outhouse of a Northamptonshire rectory, wouldn’t be the first thing you would expect to generate international bidding.

THE former premises of Wolverhampton auctioneer Walker Barnett & Hill have reopened again under new management.

INFORMATION on some of the valuable pieces of Sèvres porcelain stolen from Lord Gage’s Sussex stately home last month have now been released. The items taken from Firle Place are thought to be worth in the region as £1m and include a rare Sèvres Pompadour marbled ground vase from c.1761.

THE new owners of the Newark International Antiques and Collectors' Fair, International Antiques & Collectors' Fairs Ltd (IACF), have booked a series of TV adverts to promote the forthcoming fair.

DELOITTE, the leading accounting and business consulting firm, has recently turned its attention to the antique furniture market and concluded it is a good time to acquire a “proven asset at a low price”.

THE so-called Frog Service made by Wedgwood for Catherine the Great was one of the most prestigious creations by the Staffordshire entrepreneur and one that helped forge his international reputation.

GLASS collector Graham Cooley, auctioneer Will Farmer and glass specialist Andy McConnell have offered to spearhead a fundraising drive for a new home for the Broadfield House Glass Museum collection.

Scrimshaw, or carved bone and ivory, is very collectable, but the signature and scenes on this 7in (18cm) long whale’s tooth put it in a special league.

Christie’s have announced a premium-inclusive £1.2bn ($1.8bn) in sales for the first six months of 2009, down 35 per cent on the same period last year, when results were £1.8bn ($3.5bn).

Second quarter results for Sotheby’s in 2009 show operating revenues down almost half to $167.3m on the first three months of the year thanks largely to the decline in auction totals.

Bloomsbury Auctions are to increase their buyer’s premium from 20 to 22 per cent.

Dreweatts have stepped up their competition for London business by appointing James James-Crook as Director of Business Development, with immediate effect.

THREE weeks after cheque-bouncing dealer Tony Nowaosad vowed to settle his debt at Durrants Auction Rooms, he has still not done so, say the auctioneers.