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Standing by the stairs of a modest Cumbrian seaside home, a pair of 19th century treen figures dominated the sale, both physically and in price terms, at 1818 Auctions (20% buyer’s premium inc VAT) at Milnthorpe on June 6.

Samuel Miller Freeman II – known to all as Beau – was a fixture in the Philadelphia auction scene for just shy of six decades.

Returning clients are usually welcome, but few more so than the couple who consigned two pieces of Red Anchor Chelsea to the sale at Lacy Scott & Knight’s (17.5% buyer’s premium) on June 10.

Karen Taylor Fine Art’s exhibition of British drawings, watercolours and oils takes place from 30 June-July 7 at Illustrationcupboard Gallery in St James’s.

ATG's selection of upcoming sale highlights.

Bookings are going well at the Knebworth Park Decorative Salvage and Vintage Fair for Sharon Blagrove, aka Bentleys Fairs.

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days.

Catalogued as ‘after the antique’, this marble figure of Aphrodite was the unexpected star of Chiswick Auctions’ June 14 sale of antiquities and tribal art in London.

‘How Western Art Collectors are Helping to Fund Isis’ (Guardian), ‘Broken System Allows Isis to Profit from Looted Antiquities’ (New York Times), ‘How Antiquities are Funding Terrorism’ (Financial Times). In 2015, news of looting and the destruction of ancient sites in the Middle East by the fanatical Islamic terrorists Isis began to gain worldwide attention.

Mixing ancient and new is all the rage. The contemporary art boom has drawn new faces into the antiquities market, changing the way the trade think and display ancient art.

Charles Ede has bowed out of this week’s Masterpiece London in favour of the trio of TEFAFs. ATG meets two of the directors to find out how a synthesis of ancient and modern can benefit this long-standing family firm.

Consigned from a deceased estate, a 19th century oil of a popular Venetian view topped Mitchells’ (20% buyer’s premium) June 1 auction in Cockermouth, Cumbria.

For a number of years now ship’s logs have made good prices at auction. Those featuring naval engagements, significant encounters in foreign lands, or with added, if amateur illustration – even logs kept on whalers that use simple sketches to record a catch – offer something extra.

Written in 1960, Edna O’Brien’s The Country Girls broke the silence on sex in a socially repressive Ireland, seen through the lives of Kate and Baba, two young Irish country girls yearning for love who move from rural Ireland to Dublin to find it.

London art and antiques galleries have been alerted to a scam that has seen at least four dealers preyed on by tricksters.

“I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon”. Arguably the most famous words in archaeological history, they were supposedly uttered by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 as he unearthed a gold mask at Mycenae. Some 140 years later, portraits from antiquity remain powerful reminders of our ancient past.

“In order to prevent the further slaughter of Dublin citizens, and in the hope of saving the lives of our followers, now surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, the members of the Provisional Governments present at Head Quarters have agreed to an unconditional surrender…”

A work by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-88), the American artist who broke the $100m barrier at auction in May, will lead Forum Auctions’ July 6 sale in London.

An enticingly estimated drawing by the 17th century English court portraitist Sir Peter Lely offered for sale in a French provincial auction drew a flurry of attention from English trade and private bidders last week. It was propelled to over 20-times its estimate.

As part of a five-year plan to grow its interest in the coin collecting market, The Royal Mint has taken a share in Mayfair numismatic dealership Sovereign Rarities.