Front Page and News

Adam Partridge Auctioneers & Valuers has opened its third saleroom in the north-west and hired new staff to target consignments from the Lancashire and Lake District areas.

This rare sampler, just 6in (15cm) across, was completed by a girl from the Queens Orphan School in Van Diemen’s Land (the island of Tasmania) in 1838.

London’s Russian week of auctions put in a consistent performance last week with the sales at four salerooms generating a combined £37.5m with fees. This compared to £39.2m for the equivalent series last year and the £35.8m raised at the June series.

Losses narrowed for stamps, coins and medals business Stanley Gibbons in the six months to September 30.

Collectors who missed out on a rare late 19th century cabin trunk at auction last week have the chance to buy another in West Sussex this coming Friday.

A print fair is being launched within next year’s Firsts London rare book fair.

Although Charles Dickens is often credited with creating the ‘modern’ Christmas, some of the recognition should go to John Leech.

Copenhagen auction house Bruun Rasmussen has set an auction record for any painting sold in Denmark.

One of the highest-ever totals for an art auction in Ireland was set last week when the sale of the Ernie O’Malley collection held by Whyte’s of Dublin in association with Christie’s raised a premiuminclusive total of €5.42m (£4.65m).

Antiques and luxury items platform 1stdibs is increasing its monthly subscription fee to dealers by 42%, from £350 to £500. The firm says the move reflects the increasing cost of maintaining the online portal.

A focus on collectors and collections is the theme of London Art Week.

This rare late-17th century 4in (9.5cm) devotional pendant displays the craft of 'scherenschnitte' (scissor cuts).

A rare early 17th century bronze bust of a French statesman discovered in a country house has sold for €2.4m (£2.07m) hammer at the Drouot auction centre in Paris.

The first Olympic medals won by a black British athlete sold at Hansons last week for £8000 (plus premium), writes Laura Chesters.

The Brontë Parsonage Museum, the Brontës’ former family home, has secured an 1830 autograph miniature manuscript by a 14-year-old Charlotte Brontë (1816-55) that was auctioned at Aguttes in Paris.