News

London dealer Philip Mould has revealed his “first and most stupid deal” and his regret at missing out on buying a drawing by David Hockney.

The organisers of a new collectors’ fair at Marlborough College say they have had “a tremendous response from the trade” but still have a few spaces left for the inaugural event later this month.

The original ‘It’ bag, a Hermès Birkin, has proved yet again that it remains the world’s most desirable bag after setting an auction record for Fellows Auctioneers this week.

Fewer lots were on offer at this year’s Frieze-week auctions in London but demand generally held up with international bidders taking advantage of favourable exchange rates.

Two Russian diamond necklaces, with links to Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in Geneva next month with a $10m estimate.

African artefacts, jewellery and fossils from a family collection linked to the celebrated palaeoanthropologists, the late Louis and Mary Leakey, are to be sold later this month at The Cotswold Auction Company.

The new management of Stanley Gibbons has launched a scathing attack on the way the firm had been run after the collectables and auction group posted losses of £29m.