UK

Christie’s has explained its policy of holding trade-only viewings of its sales, saying they comprise ‘business meetings’ rather than public viewings.

Following an internal consultation – and a public outcry – the Wallace Collection has announced its library and archive will remain open to the public.

Although the elegant lines of the Cartier Tonneau Curvex wristwatch are the antithesis of today’s macho tool watch, many were used by soldiers in the First World War.

With all 80 lots getting away – 79 to a single UK collector – a group of walking sticks totalled more than £40,000 at Charterhouse (25% buyer’s premium).

A group of works from the estate of West Country artist Michael Morgan (1928-2014) drew bidding at a recent sale at Atkins Auctions (15% buyer’s premium) of Axminster, Devon.

A Roman floor panel sold at auction in 2018 and then to an international buyer will be reunited with two other fragments from the same mosaic after a successful fundraising appeal to keep it in the UK.

A cigarette box engraved with the facsimile signature Captain Falcon Scott may have been a piece the Antarctic hero gave to a fellow explorer he offended.

The world record for a George Cross has been broken by a medal awarded to a courageous British soldier who died in captivity during the Korean War.

An abstract painting by Aubrey Williams (1926-90) offered at Grand Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Folkestone at the end of last year set another auction high for the Guyanese artist.

A recent sale at Cotswold Auction Company (22% buyer’s premium) included a single-owner collection of antiquities from Lionel Walrond (1927-2020).

Another auction house staging regular sales of Scottish Contemporary art is McTear’s of Glasgow, whose next auction in this category takes place on February 28.

This Liverpool creamware transfer-printed frog mug was produced by the short-lived Herculaneum factory c.1830-33 just after the 1829 Rainhill Steam Trials.

When Paul Feeley (1910-66) returned home after serving as a US marine in Japan during the Second World War, it triggered a fundamental shift in his art.

On a day when furniture and antiques proved to be particularly popular, the surprise star of Fellows’ (23% buyer’s premium) 740-lot online sale was an Italian 19th century pier mirror.

This silver teapot has London hallmarks for 1792 and a maker’s mark for silversmith Michael Plummer who worked out of Gutter Lane, London, from 1791-95.

The handwritten journal of Colonel Christopher Rigby, recording his success in securing freedom for thousands of slaves in east Africa, was the highlight of a collection of his papers sold in London.

As the pandemic continues to upend the art market calendar, two heavyweights of the Contemporary art and design fair scene are going digital.