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North west Essex auctioneers Mullocks Wells are to close by the end of the year. Their Monday, November 19 sale of fine art and antiques will go ahead as planned but is likely to be the last at the Dunmow Sale and Auction Rooms.

THE closure of Sherborne House in Dorset leaves a question mark over the future of the Elizabeth Frink Archive, the premier assemblage of the sculptor’s work.

Aggressive estimates rather than a fallout from credit-market losses were responsible for the first ‘wobble’ in the international art market, say Sotheby’s.

FOUR men have been bailed until Ferbruary 25 next year following the police investigation into the theft of five L.S. Lowry paintings.

A FUNDING crisis means the Percival David Foundation collection of Chinese ceramics will move from the University of London’s School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS) to the British Museum.

THE Gilbert Collection is to move from Somerset House on London’s Embankment to the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington next year.

THE National Museum of Scotland have announced that they are to host the largest exhibition of Scottish silver ever seen.

Auction houses and antiques malls in the United States are reporting a surge in overseas buying on the internet thanks to the weak dollar.

BEARNE’S have been forced to withdraw a large number of lots relating to Lord Byron from their November 7 sale.

PREVIOUSLY unpublished letters from the poet John Betjeman are to form part of the setting for a travelling display of early 20th century jewellery designer Helen Holmes at Bonhams.

A private San Francisco bank has emerged as one of the largest creditors of Salander-O’Reilly Galleries.

The descendants of James Thursby Pelham, a renowned early 20th century collector who was advised by R. W. Symonds, are in the process of selling some fine English furniture.

Two different pistols with very different stories sold at provincial auctions in the UK in October.

Collectors of Clarice Cliff have voiced their opposition to increased auctioneers’ charges with some refusing to attend Christie’s latest sale of the popular Art Deco pottery.

Sotheby’s have posted their highest price in Paris since the French auction market was opened to foreign firms in 2001.

FRENCH auctioneers are to hold their next open weekend of events on November 17-18.

New York Old Master dealers Salander-O’Reilly are expected to file for bankruptcy after a state judge ordered their gallery to be closed indefinitely.

Art dealer Andrew Sim has sold a watercolour by Richard Dadd (1817-1886) to the Metropolitan Museum in New York. It is the first work by the enigmatic Victorian artist to enter the museum’s vast art collection.

ESTIMATED at just £1000-1500, a work catalogued as by a follower of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) has sold for £2.2m at the Gloucestershire saleroom of Moore, Allen & Innocent (15% buyer’s premium).

THE Good Web Guide has just published its review of the Antiques Trade Gazette websites, including the-saleroom.com, and given them a five-star rating.