News topics

FOR the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island, wooden dance paddles known simply as Rapa were essential to many ceremonies and dances.

THIS George I christening mug was one of four items of silver stolen from dealer Clive Wilder at IACF’s Newark fair on Thursday April 8.

WHAT a difference a year can make. At the start of 2009 vendors shaken by the economic climate were reticent to consign to the major houses’ Hong Kong sales. But, a series of strong international Chinese sales during the latter half of last year restored market confidence.

BONHAMS have secured a major art collection that puts them squarely at the centre of the Australian auctions scene once more.

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.

THE Greek courts have agreed not to pursue dealer Malcolm Hay any further pending his appeal against his conviction for trading in stolen antiquities.

ATG No 1871, January 3, 2009, featured a letter from Richard Peskett of the Grayshott Village Archive appealing for information about the whereabouts of the lost original pub sign from the Hampshire village’s only public house, The Fox and Pelican.

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.

THIS previously unrecorded George II mahogany ‘sign post’ angle barometer was made by the gifted mechanician and scientist John Whitehurst (1713-1788) of Derby.

GIORGIO Corbelli, president of Italian auction house Finarte, has been given a 20-month jail sentence on charges related to financial dishonesty.

GORRINGES are to offer for sale paintings and works of art belonging to Grace Higgens, the former housekeeper at Charleston Farmhouse, the Bloomsbury Group's Sussex retreat.

IN his day the work of the Lincolnshire woodcarver Thomas Wilkinson Wallis (1822-1903), who set up business in Louth in 1843, was favourably compared with that of the most famous English woodcarver of all, Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721).

A NEW textile conservation centre – the first of its kind in the UK – is to be established at the University of Glasgow.

SINCE the last ATG conference in May 2009, the vision that Nigel Worboys outlined is now a reality, with many businesses following his lead.

A NEW auction record has been set for any painting by a Scottish Colourist after Tulips by Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935) sold for £520,000 at Sotheby's.

LEADING art market analyst Dr Clare McAndrew had to address delegates by loudspeaker phone at the annual LAPADA conference, held at Waddesdon Manor on April 21.

SPEAKING to ATG at the end of last week, London Old Master dealer Johnny Van Haeften still had not actually seen the monumental painting by Frans Francken II (1581-1642) for which he paid 6.1m euros (£5.65m) at Dorotheum’s Old Master sale in Vienna on April 21.

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 LONG-lost array of paintings, prints, books and drawings owned by legendary art dealer Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939) will be one of the talking points of the Paris summer season when it goes on sale at Sotheby’s on June 29.

THE world’s scarcest Matchbox car achieved a record-breaking price at an auction in Harrogate.