Front Page and News

Eight frost fairs were held on the Thames between 1607-1814, taking advantage of the firm ice that formed on the river as it flowed slowly in the shallows near the old London Bridge.

New online databases for extensive archive material of two core disciplines in the antiques trade have been launched.

New European Commission laws will prevent the commercial export and import of most antiques containing elephant ivory to and from the EU.

On May 6, 1954 - the day British middle-distance athlete Roger Bannister (1929-2018) ran the first ever sub-four-minute mile - there were five official timekeepers plus a sixth watch manned by race commentator Norris McWhirter (1925-2004).

Despite – or perhaps because of – the pandemic, three of the top international auction houses posted record or near-record results for 2021.

Successful £15.3m campaign secures British literature treasures including Brontë family manuscripts.

Sixteenth-century globes rarely appear on the market. So, Jim Spencer, Hansons’ works on paper specialist, had been amazed to encounter one at a valuation day in Bishton Hall, Staffordshire.

National Museums Scotland has acquired a trio of exceptionally rare Scottish silver objects created in the 1600s from the collection of Edinburgh jeweller Ron (1946-2012) and Rosemary Haggarty.

The UK government has issued a temporary export bar for a Fromanteel longcase clock dating to c.1660.

Dawsons Auctioneers is relocating to a larger new premises and plans to hold all its sales as live online-only without room bidding.

A rare work by Sarah Biffin (1784-1850), the early 19th century artist born without limbs, sold for £9000 at Sworders on December 15.

The UK government also issued a temporary export bar for a rare mid-17th century painting depicting a black female sitter alongside her white companion.

A portrait by Orientalist artist Paul Leroy (1860-1942) of a man in a yellow turban is among the early sales made during London Art Week (LAW).

A copy of Richard Hakluyt’s 'The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation' takes a six-figure sum at Devon sale.

Part of an art collection once owned by a Jewish family who fled Nazi persecution has been sold at Christie’s.

Gurr Johns acquires London works on paper specialist in auction market shake-up.

A remarkable garniture of weapons including the sword Napoleon is believed to have carried when he seized power in 1799 sold at an Illinois auction house.

One of New York’s most prolific antiquities collectors has surrendered 180 ‘looted’ items from his collection and been barred for life from acquiring antiquities again.

The sale at Thomas R Callan in Ayr on December 3-4 included this extraordinary Victorian carved throne chair estimated at £2000-3000.