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A SPATE of raids between October and December have seen pieces of furniture by Robert Thompson stolen from rural churches in Yorkshire.

MORE cash has been made available to provide tax breaks for people who donate art to public institutions – and now it can apply during their lifetime.

THIS well-preserved Charles II delft portrait charger established a new house record for Rosebery's of West Norwood in south east London on December 13 with a hammer price of £105,000.

THE European Commission Impact Study on the Artist’s Resale Right (ARR) has not been able to establish how far the Right’s introduction is linked to the recent decline in the European art market.

FAME, rarity and the finest provenance propelled a c.1795 gilded and painted Worcester vase and cover to a predictable top spot at the latest sale held by Brightwells at Leominster.

ONLY two Scottish 17th century lace-back spoons are recorded by the National Museum of Scotland so this example offered by Dreweatts at Donnington Priory was quite a rarity.

ALL may not be lost as the Artists' Resale Right is extended on January 1.

PROFESSIONAL Advisers to the International Art Market (PAIAM) has launched an online directory of professional members.

THE selectivity in the Chinese ceramics and works of art market seen in London in early November was repeated during Christie’s and Bonhams’ latest Asian series in Hong Kong.

IT was a sale tipped to defy a generally lacklustre market, and boy did it deliver! Some 590 items from the estate of Dr Ann Lewis were auctioned by Mossgreen on November 7 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.

THE strong competition that emerged for some of the most exciting pictures at the latest Old Master sales in London helped lift the series and compensated for the lack of interest at lower levels.

This previously unrecorded and beautifully painted dish, dated 1537, by the maiolica artist Francesco Xanto Avelli (c.1486-1542) sold for £325,000 at Lyon & Turnbull's latest in Edinburgh.

ONE pointer to the buoyancy of a particular collecting field is whether or not it merits its own dedicated sale.

“EUROPE certainly shouldn’t be creating new burdens,” said Chancellor George Osborne as he dismissed plans for a financial transaction tax on the City as “a bullet aimed at the heart of London”.

SOTHEBY’S are to change the format of their sculpture works of art sales in London.

DOMINIC Winter, who included the Alfred A. Charleswoth collection of old railway tickets as part of their recent collectors' and transport sale, had only a limited track record on which to rely – they sold a rare ticket for around £2000 some seven years ago.

A HIGHLIGHT of the autumn Russian art series in London was Sotheby's sell-out 127-lot sale of works from the family of Alexander Benois (1870-1960), a name synonymous with the Ballet Russes.

THE Birmingham Assay Office is launching a new one-day course, Buying Scrap Gold and Silver, on January.

SCAM guides have struck yet again, but finally the European Commission has launched an investigation and wants to hear from victims about their plight.

A new auction record for a medieval work of art was established at Christie's Paris