London

THIS lifesize bust of the actor Charles Dance has been stolen from a car only days before it was due to be entered for exhibition.

Semley Auctioneers have opened an office and reception at 97 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3LD.

Kensington Church Street dealer Paul Reeves did a double-take at Sotheby’s earlier this month. As well as curating their March 20 mixed-owner decorative arts sale titled The Best of British, he also mounted a week-long selling exhibition of his own stock under the same title in their Bond Street Galleries.

It’s hard to believe there are still undiscovered works by the most renowned artists hanging unnoticed in dusty corners of private houses. But that is what a Christie’s valuation team discovered last year.

KENSINGTON and Chelsea council have told the landlords of Antiquarius to halt the building work that has split the King’s Road antiques centre in two. This comes after the building received a Grade II listing last week.

Vendors at an auction conducted by the former head of Christie's teddy bear and doll department are still waiting to be paid, more than three months after the sale. The parent company has now gone into receivership.

West Sussex-based auctioneer Bellmans are the latest UK saleroom to open an office in Central London.

A DEALER has had to hand over £300,000 worth of paintings after a judge ruled that his records were not sufficient to show he had acquired them in good faith. He is also facing what is anticipated to be a six-figure bill for costs.

Spink are to put the unrivalled Victoria Cross collection of Lord Ashcroft on display in an 11-day exhibition in their main gallery in April. The exhibition is a forerunner to what is expected to become a permanent public display in two years’ time.

A highlight of Christie’s summer sale season in London will be their 350-lot sale of the collection of the late Hon Simon Sainsbury, scion of the famous retailing family.

THE global contemporary art market received an important shot in the arm in London last week as Sotheby's set the highest total ever seen for a contemporary art sale in Europe.

DEALERS facing eviction from The Mall in Camden Passage are taking legal advice after the landlords submitted an application to the council to alter the interior of the building.

Knock-on effect of turbulence in money markets is less dramatic than feared at art auctions

A dealer who agreed a price for a table and then resold it to another party at a higher sum has been told by a judge to pay compensation to his original buyer.

Until February 16, Linley at 46 Albemarle Street, London W1 will be showcasing the work of two of Britain’s leading contemporary wood turners in a show called Wizards in Wood.

JOHN Nicholson’s are the latest ‘provincial’ auctioneers to open a London office.

Having dramatically grown the auction market for Banksy at their mixed media Vision 21 sales, Bonhams are embarking on a new venture – a dedicated sale of Urban Art.

Sotheby’s have agreed to sponsor Tate Britain’s Duveens Commission, thereby allowing this site-specific sculpture commission to become an annual rather than a biennial event.

Scottish auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull started off their year on January 10 with the sale of the Deloitte Art Collection at The Royal Academy in London.

Mall dealers ‘have nowhere to go’ if forced to leave