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The two ABA fairs compared and more quotes from the art and antiques trade.

The most popular stories on this website over the last week included news of a group of jewels discovered next to joint of meat in a freezer being offered at auction.

Purchased for £1 from a Hertfordshire charity shop earlier this year, a Qianlong (1736-95) famille rose wall vase sold for £380,000 at Sworders in London today (plus 25% buyer's premium).

A record for a copy of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species came at Hindman’s sale of the library of a Midwestern collector in Chicago earlier this week.

Christie’s has been praised for its stance on US tariffs on Chinese art after it became the first art market firm to seek exclusion from the tax, part of the ongoing trade war between the US and China. Late in October, Christie’s applied for exemption from a “punishing” import tax on seven types of Chinese art.

ATG’s selection of hammer highlights this week includes a pair of Royal Crown Derby vases making over 20-times estimate and a Georgian longcase clock fetching over 15-times estimate.

The ABA’s Chelsea fair is pitched at all levels of buying expertise and budgets. On the event's second day, Saturday November 2, ATG went to Chelsea Old Town Hall to record the action