Front Page and News

The stand-out lot at David Lay’s latest Cornish art sale was an oil by Dod Procter (1891-1972), a leading member of the colony of avant garde artists working in Cornwall in the 1920s-30s.

Following the removal of four lots from a New York sale, Christie’s has expressed frustration at being denied access to key information on possible looted antiquities.

One of the few first-edition copies of 'Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone' inscribed and signed by JK Rowling has sold at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh for £100,000 (plus 25% premium).

Auction houses, dealers and antiques centres in England began to reopen their premises to the public on June 15. All have taken steps to ensure buildings are ‘Covid-secure’ with new layouts, hygiene regimes and occupancy restrictions.

A Chinese silver dealer is searching for a new home on Portobello Road after a dispute with his landlord, Portobello Group.

As the Paris auction scene got back to business, an extraordinary Qianlong mark and period porcelain vase sold at the Drouot centre last week for €1.95m (£1.77m).

Sotheby’s July Hong Kong series will include ‘a lost masterpiece’ of Qianlong yangcai porcelain recently found in a Dutch country house.

A trading standards investigation has unearthed a ‘medal factory’ in Derbyshire, sparking the fear that thousands of fake military awards and badges could be in circulation.

An ancient writing tablet made famous by Yuval Noah Harari in his bestseller 'Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind' comes for auction in London next month.

As Portobello Road market dealers come under financial pressure following the lockdown, the owner of many of its arcades has defended its stance on rent payments.

The antiquities trade has welcomed a new independent report that estimates the volume of looted objects on the market is much smaller than previous reports have suggested.

Tribal Art London has hired a new director to organise and lead the fair.

Cases disputing the rightful ownership of antiquities have become common in recent years with nations including Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Iran and Iraq seeking repatriation of objects in private or public ownership in Europe and the US.

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including The National Gallery in London acquiring a painting by Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923) for £325,000 from the Daniel Katz Gallery.

The Paris Biennale and dealer association Syndicat National des Antiquaires have organised an online auction at Christie’s.

An album of 12 early watercolour drawings of Australian Aborigines made a surprising £72,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Forum Auctions in London.

Dealers, fair organisers and antiques centre managers are preparing to return to business with a mixture of enthusiasm and caution.