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There was high excitement at The Auction Centre, Leyburn on March 30 when Sean Keating’s Ulysses off Connemara shot to a remarkable £400,000 (plus 15/10 per cent premium), a record for the artist and a house record for Tennants.

The Birmingham industrialist and designer Matthew Boulton was the toast of the Paris salerooms last week when this impressive ormolu-mounted fluorspar vase was sold at Drouot Richelieu for €170,000 (£121,430) plus premium.

Dreweatt Neate Neales in Nottingham will hold the first of a series of sales for Oxfam on April 19. Recent visitors to the charity’s website or one of its network of 750 high street shops may have noticed the launch of ‘Valued at Oxfam’.

High Court turns down Iran’s bid to enforce its own penal law in UK in attempt to claim artefacts

Founding partner Rémy Le Fur has left ArtCurial, where he was in charge of sales of furniture and objets d’art, and notably secured the prestigious Rossignol Collection, the most important furniture sale in Paris during the 2005-06 season.

The highlight of the English and Continental furniture and objects sale conducted Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh on March 21 was this walnut, rosewood veneered, satinwood crossbanded and parcel gilt side table c.1805.

Scandinavian auction house Bukowskis have a new owner.

THE leading dealer associations have drawn up guidelines to clarify the position on how the artists’ resale levy applies to sales of prints.

Photo-london, the four-year-old specialist photograph fair that takes place annually in May, has a new owner, a new venue and a new slant.

MORE details have emerged of how Sotheby’s are repositioning themselves to compete at the top end of the art market.

THE spotlight turned onto the vintage wine market last week after reports emerged concerning the sale of fake bottles. Media speculation has followed the launch of an FBI investigation into whether sellers knowingly sold counterfeit wines for up to $100,000 a bottle despite doubts about their authenticity.

Buyers and sellers in collusion case set for $93.5m pay day

SIR Harry Newton (1871-1951), whose library provided some of the finest things in a £730,000 book sale held by Duke’s of Dorchester on March 8, was an adherent of the old ‘Cabinet’ school of collecting – buying key works of literature and science.

On March 6, amid a scrum of journalists and anoraks, Bonhams sold the Angels collection of stage and screen costume including Obi Wan Kenobi’s hooded cloak from the original Star Wars film, knocked down below expectations at £45,000.

THE value of art and antiques imported to the UK from outside the European Union soared by nearly a half in 2006.

The majolica market may have cooled a little since the white hot days of the 1990s but rarities still have the capacity to command imposing sums at auction.

THE London trade can breathe a sigh of relief. The British Art Market Federation (BAMF) have won their battle to stop a new Government Bill introducing draconian measures to regulate the capital’s dealers and auction houses.

A COURT injunction against eBay is forcing the online giant to vet all Harry Potter titles before they are posted on their Indian site.

Anonymous artist’s contempt for art market does nothing to dampen demand

THE imminent smoking ban and the government’s attempts to tackle binge drinking wouldn’t have gone down too well with the Reffley Brethren.