UK

Rising costs in the wake of the government ban on credit card fees are forcing auctioneers to end card transactions or consider raising buyer’s premium.

IACF is to take over the running of the antiques and collectors’ fairs held in Bingley Hall at the Staffordshire County Showground.

Leading names in British art dealing are returning to the British Art Fair, prompting a rise in exhibitor numbers for the next revamped event.

Catalogued simply as ‘a pair of English soft-paste porcelain models of parrots’, these rare 18th century figures by Bow sold at Thomas Watson in Darlington, County Durham, for £16,000 (plus 24% buyer’s premium) on May 15.

Lord John Kerr, one of the true doyens of the antiquarian book world, died peacefully at his home in Oxfordshire aged 90 on May 3.

The second annual antiques fair at Bayfield Hall in north Norfolk takes place on Sunday, June 10.

Called to look at some toy trains in the home of a lady who had recently died at a great age, Special Auction Services (17.5% buyer’s premium) specialist Hugo Marsh was surprised to be shown two early and rare Bing items. They had been collected by the lady’s first husband and stored away since he was killed in the Second World War.

Osborne Samuel hosts the first major selling show of works by John Craxton (1922-2009) for 25 years this month.

Bearing a title that translates as ‘The Book of Correction of Optics for those who have Sight and Mind’, an early 14th century Arabic manuscript made a much higher than expected £450,000 during the recent Islamic week of sales in London.

Offered as part of a recent online sale, a scarce work by Walter Savage Landor that had remained unsold in a New Bond Street auction only last July finally achieved, on April 25 of this year, the high-estimate sum of £2400 that both salerooms had been looking for.

Barbara Jones joins a growing band whose peacetime work is also now in strong demand.

A 1731, first printed edition of Wycliffe’s 14th century English version of the New Testament was bid to a record £10,000 against an estimate of £200-300 in a recent Nottingham auction.

Fellows has expanded its London presence with a new office in a Georgian townhouse in Mayfair which will allow an improved viewing schedule for auction previews.

Private buying carried away two top-selling works at John Nicholson’s (24% buyer’s premium) in Haslemere, Surrey.

Guided at £200-400, a pair of 17th century British school portraits (one pictured below) went on to fetch £1150 each at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) of Shrewsbury.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Lancashire County Council is to reopen Lancaster Judges’ Lodgings, home to a key collection of Gillows furniture.

For roughly 30 years the London gallery Messum’s has worked with modern British painter Rose Hilton (b.1931) to establish her work on its own merits.

A selection of rare 19th century suzanis, handwoven silk embroideries from the areas of modern-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, go on offer next month at Afridi Gallery’s exhibition 'Gardens of Delight' in London.