News

WHILE a number of auctioneers had the snow to contend with, Steven B Bruce faced a double obstacle to their latest sale, now to be held in the new year.

MELANIE Clore has been appointed chairman of Sotheby’s Europe. She will share the role with Henry Wyndham, helping departments and offices across Europe to secure business and further develop Sotheby’s profile.

IN London on February 17, Sotheby's will sell a rediscovered 16th century Benin ivory mask – and five other rare works from the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria – consigned by the family of a key participant in the controversial Punitive Expedition. The mask alone is estimated at £3.5m-4.5m.

OFFERED this month at Christie's New York, a copy of Abel Buell's 1784 New and Correct Map of the United States of America... became the most expensive map ever sold at auction.

THE high-end fair Masterpiece London has secured planning permission for the South Grounds of The Royal Hospital Chelsea, London SW3.

THE Robert Jones and Son second model corkscrew is perhaps the most desirable of all of the many Victorian patent corkscrews.

A SALE at the Hotel Drouot in Paris devoted to minor works by Picasso was called off at the last minute because of controversy over provenance.