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There were local, or at least county, connections when this large linocut print, ‘Church and Thunderstorm’ by Edward Bawden (1903-1989) was offered by Essex auctioneers Sworders at their spring Country House sale.

SALISBURY auctioneers Woolley & Wallis have broken their own UK regional record with the sale last week of a Qianlong jade carving of a water buffalo for £3.4m. It establishes a massive new UK landmark for any work of art sold at auction outside London.

THE Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA) has stepped up its efforts to recover books stolen by its former president, David Slade, from Sir Evelyn de Rothschild.

THE tide has turned in favour of eBay in the legal war over the sale of counterfeit goods on their site after a French court backed them against L’Oreal.

CHRISTIE’S Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS) have announced that they will open a new facility at The Singapore Freeport in January 2010, offering a secure tax-free location for the storage and transaction of fine art and antiques.

A metal detector enthusiast who pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud has been jailed for six months for selling modern fakes.

BURRELLS Antique Desks have won their case against rival dealer Steve Campbell in a dispute over his use of their name to divert customers to his business via the internet.

AFTER the resignation of the speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin last week, the subject of this cartoon of the 1830s could hardy have been more topical.

THE petition to persuade the Government to ease business rates in support of the art and antiques industry is gathering momentum.

After more than 40 years, Sotheby’s have scrapped their annual sale at Gleneagles and will now hold biannual sales of Scottish art in London.

FRANK Wilson's Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) is generally ranked by enthusiasts of Soul music as a very good rather than a great single, but in the collecting community it has acquired legendary status. Only two copies of the original pressing appear to have survived.

Washington, D.C. auctioneers Sloans & Kenyon found this English period work by the Italian Baroque painter Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734) in the basement of a local home.

Conservative estimates tailored to new realities enabled the New York flagship sales of post-War and contemporary art to set solid selling rates. But, for both major houses, the financial gulf between this year and 2008 was enormous.

AN opportunist thief has stolen some highly individual and recognisable objects from the Lodge at Eton College.

THE National Association of Goldsmiths (NAG) and insurers T.H. March are launching an initiative aimed at gathering better intelligence on crime.

Thin catalogues and thin demand for aggressively-priced works by Modern masters characterised the recent sales of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York.

SEVERE belt-tightening is the order of the day at Sotheby’s as the company ride out the downturn and position themselves to take strong advantage as the market recovers.

ATG Media have launched an award to find the Best Auctioneer on the Internet.

On May 14, Malvern auctioneer Philip Serrell will sell this 3.5oz silver floral engraved snuffbox marked for Nathaniel Mills, Birmingham 1836.

A YEAR that marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species has already produced several television and radio programmes on Darwin, and it was always to be expected that his saleroom profile might be high in 2009.