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THE flooded Welsh Marches in November didn’t augur well for sales but the Herefordshire auctioneers even managed to find a buyer for a highly unseasonal garden seat.

FRANCE: THREE French museums have become embroiled in legal controversy after harbouring works of art looted from their original owners during the Nazi occupation of France during World War II.

FRANCE: Following a two-year investigation, French police have rounded up a gypsy gang responsible for hundreds of thefts from châteaux and private homes, many in Normandy and the Paris area.

UK: THE market in Guinness collectables continues to be as thirsty as that for the black stuff itself, to the point where buyers have to be on guard against forgeries of better known pieces.

NEW YORK: PIRACY on the High Seas may be among the most dastardly of criminal activities, but when you look back at the Spanish Main with all its swashbuckling and early Hollywood Fairbanks and Flynn connotations, it remains among the most stirring and romantic.

The British Hallmarking Council has ruled that the old Dealer’s Notice for those selling gold, silver or platinum, will cease to be valid from March 31 next year.

THE British Art Market Federation has expressed disappointment as the European Parliament is seeking to reverse special provisions for the UK concerning droit de suite, the artists’ resale levy.

A protracted telephone duel saw this striking early 17th century, Roman inlaid marble and hardstone table top go from a starting bid of £500,000 to a final price of £1,030,000 to top Sotheby’s Continental Furniture sale in London on December 13.

Auction houses want disclaimer clause included before payment. Buyers and sellers given a January 5 compensation claim deadline as part of the class action in the Sotheby’s/Christie’s collusion case face a dilemma.

Imagine being serenaded at your dinner table, preferably by one of the Python team, with the world’s smallest playable violin.

NEW YORK: There was a flurry of activity at the Phillips New York (buyer’s premium 15/10%) auction of American Art last week as Benjamin West’s renowned painting of The Death of General Wolfe came up for sale.

IN a week that has seen the NASDAQ plummet and general gloom settle over the dotcom world, the massive Tek Sing cargo sale has shown that the Internet can play an extremely useful role in the international auction scene.

A HOUSE of Lords ruling in a copyright case tightening the rules on what constitutes an infringement could have a significant impact on the Contemporary art scene.

A pencil drawing by Bronzino (1503-72) earned Fr10.6m (£960,000) at Piasa on November 20, the highest ever price for an old master drawing in Paris, and a world record for a Bronzino drawing.

SEVENTY-FIVE leading contemporary artists have lent their names to a poster campaign against droit de suite, claiming that the currrent EU directive on artists’ resale right deprives them of their right to freedom of choice.

THE parliamentary committee assessing the merits of the Kent Bill have called on the Government to introduce public legislation to cover the whole country instead.

UK: The absence of a buyer’s premium at Nigel Ward & Co’s sale on November 18 at Ewyas Harold Memorial Hall near Pontrilas, Hereford was certainly a factor in the substantial price attained for this Charles II pewter candlestick, 7in (18cm) by an unknown Bristol maker.

As chairman of a discussion panel at the annual conference of the Appraisers Association of America in New York, MARK BRIDGE, found that the Internet is not the villain it was painted a year ago. He reports on the current attitudes to on-line valuation in the USA and the views of auctioneers experimenting with online bidding.

This Regency giltwood chair may have been one of the largest hearing aids ever built, but it was intended to serve the same purpose as the smallest, mobile device: disguising the disablity and sparing the dignity of the listener.

“Is the live auction dead?” was the challenging question before a panel discussion at the annual conference of the Appraisers Association of America in New York in which four major regional auction houses took part.