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NEW contracts being rolled out by online art and antiques database Artfact, who took over Invaluable last year, have alarmed a number of auctioneers who have been approached to sign up for their catalogue and online auction services.

For the second time in the space of a week a UK provincial auctioneer was celebrating a million-pound sale of works by one of the world’s most famous artists.

When asked in an interview of 1906 which of his works he valued most, pâte-sur-pâte master Louis Solon responded: “If the whole of my production were doomed to be destroyed, and I was asked to point out a few specimens that, in my estimation, deserved to be spared, it is from the works made at Minton during my last years there that I would unhesitatingly make my selection.”

RECENT sales of Rhino horn at provincial salerooms have brought into question the law that governs the trade in taxidermy and wildlife specimens.

after months of pre-sale coverage in the media, the two recently rediscovered panels of Dominican saints from Fra Angelico’s celebrated 1438-40 high altarpiece for the Church of San Marco in Florence finally came under the hammer at Duke’s of Dorchester last Thursday, when they fetched £1.7m.

Bonhams have joined the push for Middle Eastern business by announcing the opening of a sales office in Dubai with a first auction scheduled for early November.

Sotheby’s will launch a premium credit card later this spring. The Sotheby’s World and Sotheby’s World Elite cards are the product of a partnership between Mastercard and American finance house GE Money who hope to use Sotheby’s status as a luxury brand to attract high-net worth cardholders.

Of the 2000 or so lots auctioned during New York’s Asia week, this late Shang dynasty Chinese bronze was the crowning glory at $7.2m (£3.87m).

The Asian art juggernaut thunders on with little sign of any slowdown in the market. If anything, the pace seems to be intensifying.

After months of speculation, the fate of Dumfries House, the Adam-designed and Chippendale-furnished Scottish Palladian house and estate in Ayrshire looks to be sealed.

AT last, after nearly a decade of investigating their dubious practices, ATG can report that Austrian scam guide firm Construct Data/Fairguide have been brought to book.

Ealing Council’s Pitzhanger Manor-House has been forced to close its exhibition of Martin Brothers pottery following a burglary – the second to hit the collection in two years.

After a year-long fund-raising effort, The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has just secured the future of its most impressive Chelsea porcelain exhibit.

The subject matter of this mid-14th century gold ground may be unfamiliar to many, but that is no surprise – the treatment is thought to be unique in early Italian painting.

Museums should learn lessons of the 20th century

The London Assay Office is hosting two seminars on detecting fakes and forgeries in antique silver on Friday, June 15 at Goldsmiths’ Hall, London and Friday, June 22 at Goldsmiths’ Hall, Edinburgh.

There was high excitement at The Auction Centre, Leyburn on March 30 when Sean Keating’s Ulysses off Connemara shot to a remarkable £400,000 (plus 15/10 per cent premium), a record for the artist and a house record for Tennants.

The Birmingham industrialist and designer Matthew Boulton was the toast of the Paris salerooms last week when this impressive ormolu-mounted fluorspar vase was sold at Drouot Richelieu for €170,000 (£121,430) plus premium.

Dreweatt Neate Neales in Nottingham will hold the first of a series of sales for Oxfam on April 19. Recent visitors to the charity’s website or one of its network of 750 high street shops may have noticed the launch of ‘Valued at Oxfam’.

High Court turns down Iran’s bid to enforce its own penal law in UK in attempt to claim artefacts