Front Page and News

‘The fair needs to develop. It was time to bring in a broader range of expertise and knowledge’ says BADA chief Marco Forgione

Sotheby’s opened its September Asia Week auctions in New York on September 10 with the $8.3m sale of Chinese art consigned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A Japanese museum has claimed it bought a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds “in good faith and without fault from a respectable art dealer” after it was identified as being stolen from a UK stately home.

The British Antique Dealers’ Association has sold a majority stake in its annual fair to “make it sustainable for the future”.

Sussex auction house Burstow & Hewett has withdrawn a rare Maori cloak after its imminent sale was met by online threats and abuse.

Jeremy Lamond, Halls’ fine art director, is stepping down after 23 years at the firm.

The organisers of Fine Art Asia in Hong Kong have confirmed the event will proceed as planned, despite the ongoing anti-government protests in the city.

Dealer Ian Shaw sold this Tutsi shield, made of lightweight wood with natural pigment and offered for £13,000, to an interior designer from Denmark at last week’s 'Tribal Art London' fair.

Could these be the opera glasses used by Mary Lincoln on the night her husband was assassinated? Colchester auction house Reeman Dansie will offer them for sale on September 24-25 with a guide price of £10,000-20,000.

A 15% tax on imports into the US of art, antiques and manuscripts made in China took effect on September 1.

Sotheby’s shareholders have approved a $3.7bn deal to sell the company to media and telecoms entrepreneur Patrick Drahi.

Bonhams’ Oxford office is to reopen as a saleroom for two auctions in the autumn season.

Dealers from France and England contributed to a protracted bidding battle for a rare Renaissance maiolica dish offered at an auction house in Saxony.

Maidenhead auction house Dawson’s is to sell a collection of Martinware on behalf of descendants of an important patron of the Southall pottery.

Fair organiser Caroline Penman has abandoned her plan for retirement and will take on the running of the next Chelsea Antiques Fair – but at a reduced length.