Front Page and News

A Panticapaeum gold stater, struck in present day Crimea c.350-300BC, has regained the rank of the world’s most expensive classical coin.

A sword taken from the Indian Muslim ruler Tipu Sultan when he was defeated and killed during the fourth Anglo-Mysore War was hammered down at £12m.

This 2ft 7in (78cm) high white marble stele depicting the Buddhist goddess Guanyin on a lotus throne between two bodhisattva was carved in the Northern Qi dynasty.

Horology dealership Carter Marsh is bringing to market what it calls the most important English table clock it has ever handled.

Sworders’ next Fine Interiors sale includes a collection of Norwich 17th century silver assembled by one of East Anglia’s best-known families.

Mallams regained the record for a pot by Jennifer Lee (b.1956) on May 18 when a large asymmetrical vessel from c.1990 sold at £40,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium).

Peter Harrington Rare Books has sold a copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio with an asking price of £6.25m.

The trade in antique scrimshaw and narwhal tusks will effectively be banned in the UK once a proposed extension to the Ivory Act becomes law.

The highlight of Dreweatts’ Asian art sale on May 17-18 was this very rare Xuande (1426-35) mark and period cloisonné ‘pomegranate’ box and cover.

Judging by the overall totals, the latest Modern and Contemporary art auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips in New York were something of a bump back to reality after the last two sales series posted the highest grossing totals on record.

Stuart Lochhead Sculpture will offer a group of five Mannerist bronzes by Florentine sculptor Giambologna (1529-1608) and his pupils as part of the summer edition of London Art Week.

The Oak Interior sale at Bishop & Miller in Stowmarket on June 1-2 includes this ‘important and exceptional’ Edward IV bronze measure.

Setting an auction record for any book, manuscript or item of Judaica, a work billed as the ‘earliest and most complete Hebrew bible’ in existence sold for $33.5m (£26.6m) at Sotheby’s New York.

An Egyptian polychrome sarcophagus panel from the Late Dynastic Period was one of the highlight sales at the recent TEFAF New York.

A group of 25 works by Egyptian artists drew notable interest at the inaugural sale of Modern & Contemporary African and Middle Eastern art at Olympia Auctions.

Salisbury auction house Woolley & Wallis is holding a Martin Brothers anniversary exhibition from June 13-22.

The best needlework samplers continue to bring prices far above more routine examples.

A left-hand cotton mitten owned by John Hunt (1910-98), leader of the successful British Expedition to the summit of Mount Everest, sold for £3200 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Hansons in Bishton Hall, Staffordshire, on May 10.

The online art market continues to grow year on year with sales up 6% in 2022 according to the latest Hiscox Online Art Trade Report.

Permits and licences for CITES will soon be moving to an online service.