Front Page and News

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is to push ahead with a consultation on the trade in ivory before making any changes to legislation.

A dealer will offer what he believes is a Joseph Wright of Derby self-portrait at the LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair this autumn.

The art and antiques sector is a target for money launderers and the industry must be aware of new regulations, a leading anti-corruption group has said.

West London‘s Chiswick Auctions is to open a new showroom in South Kensington manned by at least eight former Christie’s staff.

The latest Old Master sales in London put in a solid performance with the overall total from last week’s auction series running at £115m (including premium) with one day sale still to take place at the time of going to press.

A new auction house is to open in London hoping to find a gap in the market for cameras, scientific and medical instruments.

A moment of good old-fashioned saleroom drama emerged at Christie’s antiquities sale on July 5 when an Etruscan bronze mirror, estimated at £10,000-15,000, sold at £390,000 (plus 25/20/12% buyer’s premium). The buyer was a European institution.

The Metropolitan Police’s Art and Antiques Unit is to temporarily close due to “unprecedented” demand within the force.

A claim by former auctioneer turned art-advisor Simon de Pury that he is owed $10m for facilitating the sale of a work by Paul Gauguin was heard before the High Court in London last week.

Rocketing business rates and the impact of building works for Crossrail are to force the closure of Grays Mews.

TEFAF is to trial its own online selling platform at the fair organisation’s autumn New York event, with a view to building a permanent e-commerce presence.

The number of art dealers specialising in modern and contemporary art in central London is growing, and outstripping dealers in period work.

A set of four silver-gilt candlesticks priced at £350,000 by Koopman Rare Art, were among the top sales on the opening day of Masterpiece London last week.

BADA president and former MP for Kensington, Victoria Borwick, addressed SOFAA's biannual gathering of auctioneers on June 30. She tackled auctioneer-dealer relations, the ivory question, parliament's understanding of the antiques trade and the cultural property bill.

For more than 10 years after its donation, this Suffragette banner sat stowed away in a cupboard at a little charity shop in Leeds. On June 20 it sold at local saleroom Gary Don for £13,600 (plus 21% buyer’ premium).

The global trade body for antiquities dealers has insisted that Europe does not provide a ready market for looted artefacts from conflict zones.

An Oxford antiques centre facing closure has been rescued after a white knight was made aware of its plight via ATG and Twitter.

The new owner of Dreweatts in Newbury is to bring back a monthly general sale.

London art and antiques galleries have been alerted to a scam that has seen at least four dealers preyed on by tricksters.

A massive Burmantofts faience charger sold for £13,000 (plus 22% buyer’s premium) at Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury on June 22 – the highlight of a remarkable collection of more than 700 pieces by the Leeds factory.