London

A West London auction house is facing court, charged with the sale of a modern elephant ivory carving under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) (CITES) Regulations 1997.

Spink are reuniting the first two Victoria Crosses awarded during the First World War as part of a unique exhibition focusing upon the first four months of the conflict.

The William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow is to explore the intensity with which pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti depicted model Jane Morris, William’s wife.

The highest denomination note issued by the Bank of England, this £1000 banknote is a rare survivor of a limited run that was cut short as the Nazis tried to destabilise the British economy.

Photographs are the latest discipline to join the roster of sales at 25 Blythe Road, the West London auction hub built around arms and armour auctioneer Thomas Del Mar Ltd.

Next week sees the opening of ‘The London Design Festival’, which runs from September 13-21 with a host of shows and events across the capital.

The First World War centenary has prompted numerous related exhibitions which have rather dominated the calendar this year as you might expect.

Details have emerged of a theft of a significant collection of British pocket watches from a property in London earlier this year.

As the summer break ends, next month sees a rush of activity in the art world with a flurry of events not least in the Tribal Art category.

Since 1964 William Morris’s Cotswold home at Kelmscott Manor has been under the care of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Two drawings of Old Testament subjects by the American-born portrait and history painter Benjamin West (1738-1820) proved the highlight of the latest sale of Old Masters & 19th Century Works on Paper at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions’ saleroom in Mayfair.

Pick up your stick and head out for ‘Canemania 2014’, the ninth international cane conference, to be held from September 10-13 in London.

The ‘piece of paper’ waved by Neville Chamberlain on his return from meeting Hitler in 1938 must count as one of the most infamous documents in history.

The Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office want to help more UK provincial auctioneers spot fakes by inviting them to their Fakes and Forgeries seminars at Goldsmiths’ Hall in London.

A massive Coalport Feldspar porcelain jug painted with a study of Earl Spencer’s Durham Ox in a parkland setting has been bought by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

For some years now, Far Eastern buyers have been demonstrating their fascination with so-called ‘sing-songs’ – the elaborate 18th century automaton table clocks made for the Chinese market by paying ever-increasing sums to secure them.

The most historically interesting entry in Bonhams’ clock sale held in their New Bond Street rooms came from the ten-lot section devoted to marine chronometers.

Born near Loughborough into a family of tenant farmers, Robert Bakewell (1725-95) is recognised as an important figure in the Agricultural Revolution – a pioneer of the grassland irrigation he saw while travelling in Europe and an innovator in the selective breeding of livestock.

In the wake of calls for the destruction of antique ivory, The Metropolitan Police Wildlife Crime Unit is asking Londoners to bring in ‘family heirlooms’ made from elephant ivory and other endangered species.

The awards party for the 2014 ‘Antiques Young Gun of the Year’ at Alfies Antiques Market was proof that there’s still life in the antiques trade yet.