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THIS year's 22nd staging of TEFAF Maastricht, which starts on March 12 with a day-long vernissage, will be scrutinised more than any other for signs of how the international art market is coping with global recession.

POLICE are urging churches to review their security measures after 20 pieces of valuable silver were stolen in raids on three churches in Warwickshire villages in under a week.

SOTHEBY’S latest figures showed just how deeply they were hit by the art market slump since October, with revenues for their final quarter sales cut by more than half to $166.2m. Profits for the year are down 87 per cent.

THE global art market grew by 11 per cent to £40.1bn over the last year, according to the survey just published by The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF). The report, prepared by leading art economist Dr Clare McAndrew, is the latest in a series of major studies commissioned by TEFAF that act as a focus for the launch of their annual Maastricht fair – the world’s top such event.

Among the highlights of the sale conducted by Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet on February 17 was this William IV patent mahogany library armchair, with carved acanthus leaf sides, turned lobed front legs and outswept back supports.

JAMES BRINDLEY lies amongst these Rocks,He made Canals, Bridges, and Locks...

Leonard Joel auctioneers of Melbourne, Australia, are appealing to vendors to consign art, antiques and jewellery to auction and donate the proceeds to the Victorian Disaster Appeal to help victims of the Victorian bushfires.

SOUTH Wales auctioneers Peter Francis anticipate moving to their new Carmarthen saleroom in the spring.

THE annual survey from LAPADA, the UK’s largest art and antique dealer association, shows a largely stable market compared with the previous year, but with one or two significant changes.

AN outcry from interest groups has bought more time to save the Broadfield House Glass Museum at Stourbridge, which was earmarked for closure by Dudley council.

CHRISTIE’S year-end results for 2008 show that Europe, including the UK, is currently their premier global market in terms of sales, with a total of £1.24bn compared to £1.02bn in the United States.

Positive news from Dreweatts' clocks sale at Donnington Priory, Newbury on February 10 which posted a 92 per cent selling rate.

BY 1780, John Trumbull (1756-1843), a budding young artist from Lebanon, Connecticut who had sketched the Revolutionary War, found himself in grave difficulty.

A FORMER president of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association has admitted stealing dozens of books from Sir Evelyn de Rothschild valued at a total of around £230,000.

Melting bidders' hearts in a snow-covered Dorchester, this rare Doulton figure of a little girl cradling a doll proved the star attraction at Duke's sale on February 5-6.

IN Paris the auction year will start in the most spectacular manner with the Yves Saint Laurent/Bergé collection sale on February 23-24. But 2009 holds out promise for the French art market in other areas too.

Prisoner-of-war work is the name given to intricately crafted small objects created from carved bone or wood and straw marquetry by captured French prisoners languishing in the hulks and other jails during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.

THE Inland Revenue are calling for more firms to use their new Business Payment Support Service after receiving more than 44,500 phone calls asking for help since it was launched in November.

THE flagship art sales in London saw a good take up last week after estimates were cut by as much as 40 per cent from their boom levels.