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THE highlight of the specialist arms and armour sale conducted by Sworders from their Sudbury rooms on April 7 was an important part medal group awarded to Sir Halliday Macartney (1833-1906), a soldier-turned-diplomat with a long official connection with China.

COTSWOLDS specialist in sporting antiques Manfred Schotten can usually be relied upon to turn up some quirky, offbeat but interesting items, and drawing on the wide world of sport and leisure pursuits he has plenty of scope.

A BANKRUPT Suffolk antiques dealer who went on the run to Bulgaria after swindling creditors in a £1.9m fraud has been jailed for ten years.

LIVEAUCTIONEERS have posted figures for their first quarter as a stand-alone online auctions platform.

Edinburgh-based dealers Georgian Antiques have pulled off one of their more remarkable sales – 7000 hickory-shafted golf clubs to a Chinese businessman who found them when surfing the internet.

SPECULATION is rising that many more restituted works of art may end up being offered for sale following a ruling made by Vienna’s city council.

THIS carved ivory icon of a warrior saint sparked a ferocious bidding contest when it appeared at Hampstead Auctions' sale on March 26.

A COUPLE dealing in antique desks have issued a warning over internet addresses after discovering that a rival was using their name to divert potential customers to his own website.

SOTHEBY’S are to continue with their strategy of focusing on their top-end clients while reducing lot volumes below the $5000 level.

THE National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers will hold their annual summer conference between 10am and 5pm on June 15 at Manor House Golf Club, Castle Combe in Wiltshire.

Six months after the most significant hallmarking deception case in living memory, the Assay Office has published a guide detailing many of the Peter Ashley-Russell fakes and forgeries. The document is available to download for free at www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/assayoffice

LAWRENCE B. Salander, the former owner of the bankrupt Manhattan art gallery Salander-O’Reilly, has been charged in a 100-count indictment with stealing $88m. He faces up to 25 years in prison.

SHEFFIELD’S ELR Auctions sold this exceptional Victorian inlaid ebony table cabinet as part of their quarterly antiques and fine art sale on March 27.

ST James's gallery Dickinson had one of the most impressive selections of paintings at TEFAF Maastricht and, like many other dealers in Old and Modern Masters, enjoyed a good fair.

THE UK government has acceded to European Union rules which would see the extradition of suspects like antiquities dealer Malcolm Hay.

DEMAND for Martin Brothers pottery may have tapered off slightly but it still provided three of the top prices at Bonhams’ recent Ceramic Design sale.

NO-ONE seemed to be in doubt about the quality of Sevi Guatelli’s Clarice Cliff collection.

When an impressive Wedgwood Fairyland lustre vase featured on the latest edition of The Antiques Roadshow, valuer Stephen Moore (of Anderson & Garland, Newcastle) wanted to suggest it could bring £10,000-15,000.

THE Greek courts have sentenced an English antiquities dealer to three years in jail after convicting him in his absence on charges linked to stolen artefacts.

Just hours before Sotheby’s sold the contents of Gianni Versace’s Lake Como villa on March 18, they withdrew an 18th century portrait by Johann Zoffany after its subject’s family claimed that it had been stolen from their home in London 30 years ago.