News

US & FRANCE: TWO works by Philippe de Champaigne have been withdrawn from the sale of the Karl Lagerfeld collection, in New York on May 23, and offered to the French State.

UK: POOR old Neville Chamberlain. He always takes the blame for all but delivering up the British people to Adolf Hitler, when perhaps he should really be seen merely as one of those Edwardian throwbacks like Eden who believed, quite rightly, that there was no aspect of a fascist dictatorship which could threaten the lifestyle of the English upper classes.

FRANCE: SEVENTEEN terracotta statuettes from Nigeria (Nok) and Niger (Bura), expected to bring prices between £250 and £5000, were withdrawn from sale at the Hôtel Drouot on April 21 after last-minute objections from Nigeria and Niger.

Highly desirable Clarice Cliff Blue Lucerne globular vase, 6in (15cm) high, shape 370, decorated with a stylised geometric Mediterranean landscape.

UK: Trade risks cutbacks in police commitment over due diligence.

UK: TO the businessman in late 18th century rural England, these porcelain tokens would only have been worth a couple of shillings each, but to bidders at Dreweatt Neate’s Banbury salerooms on March 29 their value was to be measured in thousands of pounds.

UK: LEADING London art dealer Simon Dickinson has announced the sale to the Brooklyn Museum of Art of the 14th century Florentine gold ground painting of Christ in Majesty which he bought for £66,000 at Dorchester rooms of Hy. Duke & Son on March 9