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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.

John Parry’s collection of early English furniture and works of art had not been long in the making.

EBAY buyers have taken matters into their own hands after the online giant failed to act against sales of fakes, despite being alerted to the problem on numerous occasions.

THE demand for Chinese works of art goes on apace. In a week when all eyes and activity were centred on New York's Asian sale series, North Lincolnshire auctioneers Brown and Co of Brigg sold this carved rhinoceros horn libation cup for £80,000.

NORTH East auctioneer Jim Railton has been fined £1000 after being charged over the sale of an Edwardian collection of birds’ eggs.

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.

SYDNEY auction house Menzies Arts Brands recorded the highest price ever paid for an Australian artwork when Sidney Nolan's First Class Marksman 1946 sold to an anonymous phone bidder for Aus$4.5m (£2.9m) at their latest sale.

SUSSEX police want to speak to the man, pictured here, in connection with two thefts at Gorringes auction house in Lewes.

CUTTLESTONES auctioneers are to host a talk on the Staffordshire Hoard to help raise funds to conserve the treasure.

THE classical horse head with powerful Art Deco styling is among the best known of all the 28 different René Lalique glass car mascots.

THE Northumberland auctioneer Jim Railton who was charged with offering and advertising 54 wild birds’ eggs for sale, has now been fined £1000 plus costs at Alnwick Magistrates Court.

WHEN Aaron Dean was asked to catalogue a local collection of Modern Firsts at Gorringes' Lewes saleroom, he knew he was dealing with something special.

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

MANY people are content to put together one major collection in their lifetime. To assemble one, disperse it at a major saleroom, set about doing the same thing all over again and then hold a second auction within the space of just over a decade takes some doing.

A SPECIALIST conservation event will take place at the Royal Asiatic Society on April 13.

A VERY Italian tale involving an important collection of papers that once belonged to the ‘father of art history’, Giorgio Vasari, took a new twist last month when a court injunction halted its sale by auction at the eleventh hour.

A REALLY top-notch example of an otherwise relatively ordinary die-cast has the capability to produce a surprisingly strong price.