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The highlight of the two-day sale of clocks and watches conducted by Gardiner Houlgate of Corsham, near Bath on October 19-20 was this rare 17th century coach or clockwatch consigned by a Bristol family who had owned it for at least a century. Measuring 31/2in (9cm) across, it is shown here a little over life-size.

AMERICAN folk art moved into new territory at Sotheby’s New York on October 6 when this life-size Indian chief weathervane with a rich verdigris patina sold for $5.2m/£2.9m (plus 20/12% buyer’s premium).

American auction houses relying on eBay Live Auctions to bolster bidding via the internet, were left frustrated on Saturday, October 21 when a server supporting the live auction portion of the site failed.

The 2001 Irish heritage laws are again being tested after a local council announced its intent to stop the sale of an 18th century fireplace on the grounds that – although not fitted in the property until the early 1970s – it is now an essential feature of the house.

MASTER Drawings in New York, a new Anglo-American trade initiative will be launched in January. It is modelled on Master Drawings in London which has been held since 2001.

DISCOVERY Real Time are filming at Take Five’s Art Nouveau/Deco Fair at Woking on Sunday, October 29 for their 10-part Real Deal series which focuses on two dealers selling their pieces.

“A MOMENT of European importance” is how architects acknowledge Tyringham Hall in Buckinghamshire. It is one of the greatest country houses designed by Sir John Soane (1753-1837), the leading architect of his generation.

SCOTLAND Yard’s Art and Antiques Unit are staging an exhibition at the V&A to raise awareness among museums, galleries and art dealers of the problem of fakes in London.

SUBSCRIBERS to auction alerts from the-saleroom.com can now get twice the number of searches for their money.

CONTEMPORARY art has helped the Fine Art Society triple its turnover in the past four years, according to results just released.

Renowned Bristol-born graffiti artist Robert Banks, better known as Banksy (b.1975), has made himself into a globally-recognised phenomenon by planting his subversive guerrilla artwork in the world’s best galleries, museums, and amusement parks.

eBay have posted a 31 per cent year on year increase in turnover of $1.449bn for the third quarter of 2006.

£57m Indian summer for auction rooms

In 1862, the English missionary Father William Duncan brought around 70 Tsimshian Christian converts to an abandoned Native village and established a model Church of England mission settlement at Metlakatla in Northern British Columbia.

Giuseppe Eskenazi, London’s pre-eminent dealer in Chinese works of art, has been appointed a Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d’honneur for services to the arts.

Stolen art and antiques valued at tens of millions remain at large despite the arrests of 14 people in connection with a string of burglaries at English stately homes. Police have asked the antiques trade to remain vigilant.

The reform of auction law forced itself to the top of the agenda when delegates from SYMEV, France’s national auctioneers association, sat down at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris on October 3 for their annual conference.

DEALERS from all over Europe have launched a campaign to get rid of the resale right enjoyed by the heirs of dead artists.

When Sotheby’s sold the first portion of the Wardington library of atlases and geographies last year, London dealer Bernard Shapero set a cartographic auction record by paying £1.3m for the ‘Doria’ atlas, a superb collection of so-called Lafreri School maps of the latter part of the 16th century.

Luxury goods firm LVMH, owners of Louis Vuitton and Dior, have filed a lawsuit against eBay contending that most of the products on the site purporting to carry their top brands are fakes.