News

The cost of smoking is going crazy – someone has just paid £29,000 for a packet of cigarettes in the West Midlands.

Reporter: “Well John, how was the trip over, did you all get bored on the flight, or did you have things to keep you entertained, that y’all were doing?” John Lennon: ‘Well, err, we all got stoned.”

New culture minister Jeremy Wright, appointed this week after a Cabinet reshuffle prompted by the resignation of David Davis and Boris Johnson, is being asked to prioritise the introduction of digital export licences for art works in time for Brexit.

A rediscovered landscape attributed to Lucian Freud, found under another painting, has sold at a top-estimate £30,000 at the Sworders saleroom.

The Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA) has released details of the 40th Annual Conference on Book Trade History.

The dates of the Cotswolds Art & Antiques Dealers’ Association Fair has been moved from its usual April slot to take place in February next year.

The original drawing of the map of Winnie-the-Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood by EH Shepard has been sold for a hammer price of £350,000, setting an auction record for a book illustration.