Front Page and News


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Overhaul business rates despite Budget reprieve, say trade bodies

05 November 2018

The UK art and antiques trade is calling for an overhaul of the “archaic and regressive system” of business rates and dismissed the Budget rates relief announcement as “too little too late”.

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Winter Olympia to return for satisfied exhibitors

05 November 2018

The Winter Art & Antiques Fair Olympia is to return next year in its new format after dealers made significant early sales and said they were “very happy” with its latest staging,.

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Awards for excellence mark start of Asian Art in London

05 November 2018

Copenhagen auction house Bruun Rasmussen and London dealer Grace Tsumugi Fine Art were the recipients of the 2018 Asian Art in London Awards, co-sponsored by ATG.

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Former Manchester United chairman Harold Hardman’s Olympic gold medal sells in Oxford

05 November 2018

Harold Hardman’s journey from amateur footballer and solicitor to chairman of Manchester United in the era of the Busby Babes is a fascinating story in itself. But a medal coming up for auction in Oxford adds even more appeal.

UK auction rooms ‘not aware’ of new laws on deactivated firearms

29 October 2018

The National Ballistics and Intelligence Service (NABIS) has warned of a rise in defectively deactivated firearms offered at auction since the law changed this summer.

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Rediscovered Iznik charger leads London’s Islamic Week sales after record-breaking 20-minute bidding battle

29 October 2018

A newly discovered Ottoman charger described as one of the most important pieces of Iznik pottery remaining in private hands was the toast of Islamic Week, selling at Sotheby’s for a spectacular £4.55m (£5.4m including buyer’s premium).

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The timely record for punning Lutyens clock

29 October 2018

Included in the Important Design sale at Phillips in London on October 18 was an unusual mantel clock designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869- 1944).

Lords amend search powers of civilian officers in ivory bill

29 October 2018

An amendment to the ivory bill raised in the House of Lords will limit the powers of accredited civilian officers.

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De Waal netsuke at auction – minus hare with amber eyes

29 October 2018

Netsuke from the collection of ceramicist and author Edmund de Waal, made famous by the 2010 memoir 'The Hare with the Amber Eyes', go under the hammer in London.

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‘Rodin’s’ Baptist bust rediscovered at Connecticut auction

22 October 2018

Black Rock Galleries in Greenwich, Connecticut received bids up to $388,000 (plus 18% buyer’s premium) for a bronze it believes is Buste de Saint Jean-Baptiste, a previously lost lifetime cast by Rodin.

ASA

Advertising Standards Authority continues strict scrutiny of the display of fees in the auction market

22 October 2018

Auction house told it must improve the way it advertises extra sale charges and taxes

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Tompion strikes a £200,000 note in Staffordshire

22 October 2018

A portable table clock by Thomas Tompion sold for a top-estimate £200,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) as part of a mixed-owner sale conducted by Hansons at Bishton Hall, Staffordshire.

Piano keys

Export of piano keys ‘distort ivory statistics’

22 October 2018

New figures obtained by the BADA reveal that piano keys represent the vast majority of ivory items exported from the UK in the past three calendar years.

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Benchmark prices for Horlicks’ ‘prime period’ Mouseman

15 October 2018

The Horlicks collection of Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson furniture was sold at Sworders’ auction for £236,000.

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Kensington fair cancelled at eleventh hour

15 October 2018

The Kensington Antiques Fair was cancelled at the eleventh hour just before it was due to open at Kensington Town Hall.

Change to VAT threshold could hit many dealers

15 October 2018

Small dealers have expressed their dismay at news that Chancellor Philip Hammond is considering a plan to bring many more businesses into the VAT system by reducing the threshold for paying.

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Medal celebrates that sinking feeling

15 October 2018

This medal documents a little-known moment in the history of the English Civil War. In 1648, following a revolt in the Parliamentary fleet, a number of ships went to Helvoetsluys in the western Netherlands and were organised as a Royalist squadron by Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1619-82).

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Antique arms fairs combine at Olympia

15 October 2018

The next Antique Arms Fair at Olympia in west London will incorporate another key London collecting event, the long-running Park Lane Arms Fair.

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Buyers dig deep for classical ‘Roman’ bust at Sheffield auction

08 October 2018

A classical marble bust took an unexpected £129,000 at Sheffield Auction Gallery on September 21.

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‘Chinese Mona Lisa’ comes to auction from Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick

08 October 2018

Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury will sell an important oil by Chinese contemporary artist Yang Fei Yun (b.1954) next month. It comes for sale from the charity established by Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick (1942-2007).

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