Front Page and News

Derbyshire-based Hansons Auctioneers is opening a London saleroom, with plans to host fine art and antiques auctions once a month from February 2018.

A gold memorial ring made for one of Nelson’s ‘Band of Brothers’ – and containing a lock of the Admiral’s hair – sold for £20,000 (plus premium) at Duke’s of Dorchester on December 7.

A ‘rediscovered’ fifth copy of Martin Waldseemüller’s globe gores from c.1507 was withdrawn from sale last week after a group of academics and dealers in the US expressed doubts over its authenticity.

An extraordinary example of British avant-garde clothing made on the eve of the First World War sold for £29,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) at Mallams Oxford on December 8.

The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) is planning to reinvigorate its flagship Maastricht fair after agreeing a new deal to stay with the Dutch city until 2028.

Strong competition emerged for an oil sketch for Eugène Delacroix’s 'Liberty Leading the People' at Christie’s in London on December 14.

The Metropolitan Police’s Art and Antiques Unit, disbanded in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, has been re-formed this month, ATG has learned.

Lord Carrington to argue for licensing system ahead of consultation closing date

Tis the season to sell Victoria Crosses… three have come up at auction recently and posted strong results, including a world record.

The latest Old Master auctions in London gave encouragement to the sector as keen competition came for a noticeably higher number of works pitched at relatively attractive levels.

The £1.1m paid for this Graff yellow diamond ring at Fellows on December 7 makes it the top price achieved in the UK regions this year.

Update (July 2019): auctions resumed at Bloomsbury in 2018 following Gurr Johns' purchase of Dreweatts and Bloomsbury in 2017. In February 2019 it expanded the number of sales at its London office at 16-17 Pall Mall. The original story is below.

LAPADA has reached outside the art and antiques sector for its new chief executive, appointing the former publishing director of Tatler magazine, Patricia Stevenson.

Art Basel-owner MCH Group is to expand the Masterpiece brand across the US, Asia and the Middle East after it bought a majority stake in the art fair.

Despite its current high profile, commercial interest in Soviet-era art remains selective. With the centenary of the Russian Revolution and anniversary exhibitions at the Royal Academy and Tate Modern, the latest series of Russian sales in London had aimed to cash in on the focus on this sector.

The Jean-Claude Lepileur (1926-2016) collection of Chinese archaic bronzes offered as a stand-alone collection at Gorringe’s in Lewes on November 28 totalled £582,000.

Shapes Auctioneers based in Edinburgh is to close.

A philosopher of mathematics, the human consciousness and language, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was described by his teacher Bertrand Russell as “the most perfect example I have ever known of genius as traditionally conceived”.

When is parachuting in a leader from outside an industry a good idea?

For the first time, the UK art and antiques trade has publicly made the case for a licensing system that would permit the sale of antique ivory on a case-by-case basis.