International

As Paris moved into top gear last week with the opening of the ‘Biennale des Antiquaires’ fair at the Grand Palais and the ‘Parcours des Mondes’ tribal art trail, the auction firm Piasa chose this as the moment to unveil their new headquarters at number 118 on the fashionable rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, set midway between Sotheby’s and Christie’s Paris rooms.

The big comic story of the year – and one unlikely to be bettered – when two New York specialist dealers, Stephen Fisher and Vincent Zurzolo, paid $3.2m (£1.93m) for a copy of Action Comics No.1. When launched in June, 1938 it had originally cost just 10 cents.

As the summer break ends, next month sees a rush of activity in the art world with a flurry of events not least in the Tribal Art category.

Highlights from the Coslov collection of English majolica will be on show in London next month prior to their sale at Freeman’s in Philadelphia on October 7.

Spink have unveiled their new Hong Kong operation, dubbed Spink China, with the first sale, focused on wines and spirits, set for August 20.

There may have been no internet or TV in the third quarter of the 19th century, but it was possible to find out what the fashionistas of 1867 were wearing at the time.

Sotheby’s have secured the single-owner collection of Rachel Lambert Mellon, valued at more than $100m, for sale later this year in New York.

Gibraltar expects to become a new European Union tax haven for the trade in art by scrapping import and export duties on works from July 1.

Lyon & Turnbull are to sell the contents of Bantry House, County Cork, one of the best-known historic houses in the Republic of Ireland.

Despite countless offers to leave France, Suzanne Belperron (1900-83) remained in German-occupied Paris throughout the Second World War – a jewellery maker and a Resistance fighter.

A draft of Bob Dylan’s seminal recording Like A Rolling Stone set a new auction record for a pop song manuscript when it sold for $1.7m (£1.04m) to an unnamed collector at Sotheby’s New York on June 24.

New York is a step closer to adopting new restrictions on ivory after the State Assembly passed the bill to bar nearly all sales of elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn.

Sotheby’s set a new auction record for a stamp with the $7.9m (£4.85m) hammer taken for the 1856 British Guiana one-cent Magenta in New York last week.

French auctioneers Artcurial are expanding their reach by opening an office in Austria, following on from the Milan and Brussels branches established in 2012.

English cameo glass was the star of the show at Woody Auction’s second dispersal from the collection of Dr Ernest and Karin Rieger held in Wichita, Kansas.

An antiques dealer from China has become the latest person to be jailed over rhino horn and elephant ivory smuggling as the US continues its crackdown.

Following the implosion of auction house Ivey-Selkirk earlier this year, more than one firm is hoping to plug the void left by the troubled St Louis institution.

Bonhams have pledged to use their new Hong Kong headquarters to expand the territory’s traditional sales programme throughout the year.

The Kunstmuseum Bern has called the huge art bequest by Cornelius Gurlitt a “bolt from the blue, since at no time has Mr Gurlitt had any connection with” the museum.

Two market-fresh British pictures consigned from a private American collection to Ahlers & Ogletree’s upcoming auction make a significant addition to the 1000-plus lots being offered at the Atlanta saleroom.