Latest News Articles by Laura Chesters

Octagonal bench

National Gallery benches take seven times estimate at auction

16 October 2025

A group of benches consigned by The National Gallery took more than seven times their top estimate at auction.

Gold pendant

British Museum launches fundraising plea to buy £3.5m 'Tudor Heart' pendant

15 October 2025

The British Museum is trying to raise funds to buy a gold pendant discovered by a metal detectorist in a field in Warwickshire in 2019.

Édouard Challemel du Rozier and Rodica Seward

New owners, hires and expansion: latest updates from across auction houses, dealers and fairs

14 October 2025

The latest Movers & Shakers in the world of art and antiques

Liquidation

Aldridges of Bath goes into liquidation after trading without a client account

13 October 2025

Auction house Aldridges of Bath has gone into liquidation owing more than £377,000.

Alms dish

Museum successful in bid to secure Russell alms dish

13 October 2025

The Gordon Russell Design Museum in Broadway, Worcestershire ran a successful campaign to purchase a Lygon brass alms dish by the English designer and craftsman that came to auction in West Sussex last week.

img_55-1.jpg

Outcry over planned sale of National Gallery benches

13 October 2025

A number of restoration specialists have spoken out about the National Gallery’s plan to sell some of its furniture at auction.

img_33-6.jpg

A trio of autumnal London art and antiques exhibitions

13 October 2025

To coincide with the V&A’s 'Marie Antoinette: Style' exhibition, portrait miniature specialist Emma Rutherford’s Limner Company is holding a ‘pop-up’ selling exhibition at Daniel Crouch Rare Books in Bury Street, Mayfair.

img_32-2.jpg

FAB enjoys its new date in Paris

13 October 2025

Good sales and happy exhibitors as France’s showpiece fair moves from November to mid-September

Alvar Aalto plywood dining suite

Design fans head to Berkeley Square for latest PAD London event

10 October 2025

Design fair PAD London runs from October 14-19 in Berkeley Square this autumn.

The Georgian Group's HQ

Consignment call for charity auction to raise funds for Georgian heritage conservation

09 October 2025

The Georgian Group has teamed up with Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers for a special fundraising auction.

Philip Mould and Fiona Bruce

Two new series commissioned for BBC’s Fake or Fortune?

08 October 2025

BBC Studios has retained the contract to continue producing Fake or Fortune? for another two series.

Seating

Outcry over planned sale of National Gallery benches

07 October 2025

A number of restoration specialists have spoken out about the National Gallery’s plan to sell some of its furniture at auction.

Molenaer self-portrait

Details of sales to museums from across the globe revealed by TEFAF Maastricht

07 October 2025

A round up of recently announced sales from the TEFAF Maastricht fair earlier this year

img_1-1.jpg

‘Italian Old Master’ takes £685,000 in Oxfordshire

06 October 2025

A Madonna and Child painting catalogued as by an ‘Italian Old Master’ took an astonishing £685,000 hammer price at an auction in Banbury.

Lama Koubrously, Marta Somauroo and Ilaria Bellucci

Azca Auctions announces new team after directors depart

06 October 2025

Azca Auctions in Hammersmith, west London, has announced new recruits following the departure of the founding directors earlier this summer.

Art Deco sculpture

Back-stories boost early successes at the Battersea fair

06 October 2025

Stand-out decorative items by named artists with interesting back-stories were in demand at the latest The Decorative Fair in Battersea.

img_30-5.jpg

Tempest blows in to Kensington's Reindeer Antiques

06 October 2025

Kensington Church Street dealership Reindeer Antiques is hosting an exhibition and book launch for cartoonist Annie Tempest (b.1959).

img_30-3.jpg

Everybody needs good neighbours, including sculpture specialists

06 October 2025

Meeting as neighbours at TEFAF Maastricht, two sculpture dealers have come together to hold an exhibition in London.

img_30-1.jpg

Dealer Nimbus Antiques to stage retirement sale at Bamfords

06 October 2025

Former LAPADA member, furniture dealer Nimbus Antiques in north Derbyshire, is closing and plans a retirement auction at local saleroom Bamfords.

Broadwood piano

National Trust’s Cragside sells piano at auction to make way for 19th century ‘popstar’s’ Broadwood rosewood model

02 October 2025

A grand piano once owned by the celebrated concert pianist Arabella Goddard is back on display where it once held pride of place at Cragside in Northumberland.