Front Page and News

Two men from south London have been sentenced for selling antique ivory fans on eBay to buyers in China and the US.

Despite surface dirt and other condition issues, a painting of Naples drew a dramatic bidding competition at a recent auction in Rome.

A work spotted by a French auctioneer in a kitchen hanging above a hotplate has been ascribed to the Italian artist Cimabue (c.1240- 1302). Valued at €4m-6m, it will be the first work attributed to the Florentine early Renaissance master to be offered at auction.

The British Hallmarking Council has issued new guidance for jewellery dealers on articles hallmarked outside the UK by the Birmingham Assay Office, writes Laura Chesters.

Newbury’s Special Auction Services is to expand into a double-height saleroom in the new year.

The British Antique Dealers’ Association (BADA) is to hold a meeting for members on October 1 to discuss the sale of its fair and other concerns raised recently.

The Irish Antique Dealers’ Association has written to Ireland’s finance minister to press for VAT-free status as a green retail business. Dealers in the Republic currently pay VAT of 13.5%.

A second version of one of the best-known images in Welsh art comes for sale in Cardiff next month.

Two English furniture ‘discoveries’ excelled against modest hopes at auction in mid-September. Top-end London dealers bought both pieces.

While typically it is the very earliest pieces of Worcester porcelain from the 1750s that excite the market, there is always great interest in documentary pieces.

Shropshire auction house Trevanion & Dean has taken on four new members of staff as joint founder Aaron Dean has chosen to leave and Christina Trevanion has taken on sole ownership of the firm.

The London Antique Arms Fair is moving to Hendon for its 2020 staging, writes Laura Chesters.

Robert and Johnny Sandelson, owners of British Art Fair and FairForSaatchi, have bought London’s Draw Art Fair.

Estimated at £400-600, a Chinese porcelain vase was bid to £1.3m at an auction in Hampshire last week.