News

Auctioneer unhappy about need to opt out at short notice

All eyes were on this 3ft 3in (99cm) high Roman marble double bust of Bacchus and his lover Ariadne at Bonhams Antiquities sale on May 1.

Ceramics specialist Ben Williams, who exposed studio pottery forger Jeremy Broadway, has drawn up a guide of how to spot fakes that have still not been traced.

READERS who watched the recent BBC drama Miss Austen Regrets will recall the scene in which a startled, bemused but not overly enthusiastic Jane is told by the Prince Regent’s librarian that his royal master is a great admirer and that she should feel quite at liberty to dedicate any new novel to the Prince.

The art and antiques business received some welcome positive publicity last week as a raft of national newspapers picked up on the headline findings of the first RICS Art & Antiques Market Survey.

The Louvre have secured the return of a French Crown Jewel after 121 years, through a private sale with Christie’s New York.

Cheshire auctioneers Robert Stones and Nick Allsopp of Peter Wilson, in Nantwich, have taken part in an experiment at King’s College, London, test-driving the so-called ‘intelligent gavel’.