Auctioneers

Evelyn Waugh fans should listen up: one of the writer’s ear trumpets will be offered at auction.

The plastic fiver has become a familiar sight in the UK since it was issued last September and this summer the tenner version will follow. It seems unlikely that glass coins will also appear – but that was not the case in the US in 1942.

In our weekend series, Antiques Trade Gazette brings you a selection of quotes from dealers, auctioneers, collectors and others – from Princess Diana letters to landlord disputes.

A rare European gold coin found by a dog-walker on a Cornish beach is to be auctioned in Penzance later this month.

Phillips has made two new hires in the Americas from rival Christie’s as it continues to expand in the region.

Guitars owned by music legends Jimi Hendrix and Prince were the stars of Bonhams December 15 Entertainment Memorabilia auction in London.

Troubled collectables firm Stanley Gibbons has promised investors it is close to a “turning point” after more than a year of major upheaval.

Antiques trade leaders are hopeful that China’s newly-announced plan to impose a total ban on the ivory trade in the country will exclude antique ivory.

“I am not a number, I am a free man,” was the cry of Patrick McGoohan in TV series The Prisoner. The important number at the Charterhouse auction house on February 12 is £20,000-25,000 - the estimate for a 1963 Lotus Super Seven S2, the model made famous by appearing in that 1960s cult favourite show.

A woman from the village of Hindhead in Surrey made a spectacular return on a £2 charity shop purchase when her small Chinese censer was knocked down at auction for £21,000.

Here are five of ATG's ‘best of the best’ picks of the week from 2016 – all remarkable both for their price and the stories they tell.

Australian auctioneers Mossgreen set an AUS$2m record for a single-owner sale of Asian Art sold down-under when they offered part of Raphy Star’s collection in Sydney earlier this month.

A Chinese hardstone imperial seal set a record at Drouot in Paris on when Pierre Bergé & Associés sold this impressively carved 4in (10.5cm) square specimen, inscribed 'Qianlong Yu Bi Zhi Bao', for a hammer price of €17.5m (£14.58m).

An archive of over 400 letters and drawings by Sir William Orpen (1878-1931) has been acquired by the National Gallery of Ireland in a deal brokered by Dublin auctioneers Whyte’s.

The market for Lucie Rie ceramics continues to thrive. A new auction high for the doyenne of the British studio pottery movement was posted by Phillips in New York this month– the fourth occasion a record has been set in just two years.

The Advertising Standards Authority has unveiled new guidance for auctioneers following an investigation into the way auction houses display their commission rates.

UK regional auctioneers have defended credit card fees charged to buyers amid pressure from consumer campaign groups to slash charges.

English wines are steadily gaining a reputation for decent quality, with sparkling styles in particular starting to challenge Champagne as an alternative patriotic option. Back in 1889, it was Welsh whisky throwing the gauntlet down to Scotland in the hope of supping long-running success.