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How a bid to buy time led to a transaction being investigated

Rare books valued at more than £2.5m that were stolen from a London warehouse in 2017 have been recovered in Romania.

London dealer Jack Webb, who died last year aged 94, was known for the variety of unusual pieces at his Camden Passage shop, but the D-Day veteran’s personal enthusiasm was for militaria.

Art UK, a charity with a website showcasing artworks in UK public collections, runs the Art Detective forum where specialists and members of the public are invited to help fill in gaps in the knowledge of public art. Their latest question concerns the various artists called Edwin Steele.

As heroic a defence against the odds as Rorke’s Drift, and certainly more important, the twin battles of Imphal and Kohima are much less well known.

Early work by the Plymouth artist portrays himself alongside German alchemist

August is traditionally a busy month for Edinburgh saleroom Lyon & Turnbull (25/20% buyer’s premium) and this year was no exception – despite the exceptional circumstances.

Modern and contemporary gallery recalls the faces and the artists of fabled Soho drinking den

Backing up his upbeat view of the future for salerooms (ATG No 2444) veteran auctioneer Chris Ewbank enjoyed a 99% success rate at the latest outing for his Sports & Entertainment specialist department.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a Louisa Canziani painting.

Just occasionally it doesn’t always pay to catalogue with great depth.

Future president’s 'How to Get Rich' is a curious feature of a bumper summer sales week

Until the process of independence began (starting with Ghana in 1957), photography in West Africa had been mainly a bureaucratic tool and was viewed with suspicion.

Fair organisers are not to be envied at the moment. Only at the beginning of September were the managers of the 'Highlights Fair' in Munich given the go-ahead for this year’s event (the 11th edition) which is opening its doors to the general public from October 22-25.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Bid to £1.35m at Christie’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) this summer, as part of a ‘Classic Week’ evening sale of paintings, drawings, manuscripts, sculpture and decorative arts of all ages, was a lavishly illustrated Book of Hours attributed to the Master of the Monypenny Breviary and associates.

Richard Luck owns and runs Coach House Antiques at 17 George Street, Hastings, with his wife Cheryl. After 30 years of trading from number 42 on the street, they moved down the road to number 17 earlier this year.

Mehlis (23% buyer’s premium) in Plauen held its first sale of the new season on August 28-29. There was lively bidding, with a high proportion of the bidders joining in by phone.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from September 29-October 10, 2020.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.