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The highlight of the Lowestoft porcelain sale conducted by enthusiast Russell H. Sprake at The Beaconsfield Club, Lowestoft on the evening of October 27 was this rare blue and white birth tablet.

Sotheby’s have revised employee incentive packages in a move that should help stabilise costs and prevent key staff from being poached by rivals.

November saw the art market hit a new high as Christie’s capped a remarkable series of New York sales with a record $240m (£131m) for post-War and Contemporary art.

Two sections of a painting by Francis Hayman are being officially re-united for the first time in almost three centuries at London dealer Philip Mould’s new gallery in Dover Street.

The discovery of two small panels by Fra Angelico (c.1395-1455) in a semi-detached house in Oxford ranks as one of the most remarkable art finds this country has ever witnessed.

More than 400 guests gathered to celebrate the Asian Art in London awards at the Burlington Gardens rooms of the Royal Academy on Wednesday night last week.

Domestic Interiors Database, a free online database charting the history of the domestic interior since 1400 in Western Europe and North America, is now available for study.

Feeding frenzy sets new record as bidders get their fill despite absence of Lloyd Webber Picasso

Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern art sale of 83 lots on November 7 generated $238m (£131.5m) and was the auctioneers’ highest auction total since the previous Impressionist and Modern high water mark of May 1990.

MUSEUMS are so strapped for cash when it comes to buying works of art that only one in 50 says adding to their collections is now a top priority.

IT was the Gothic furniture that was in strongest demand at Sotheby’s Haute Epoque sale in Bond Street last week, none more so than this massive 16th/17th oak refectory table that was bid to an astonishing £420,000 (plus premium).

Trading standards officers say close to 100 unpaid consignors have been unable to contact Gadsbys Auctioneers and Valuers, of Tuxford Road, Leicester after the company abruptly stopped trading two months ago.

THIS year was the second successful three-day Ceramics Festival held at Stoke-on-Trent in October, which is maybe surprising for a place which owes its very existence to pottery and is regarded by many, most particularly Paul Atterbury, the festival patron, as “the ceramics centre of the Western world”.

A Stradivari violin, which has been played in concert halls all over the world, is being offered for sale by Corsham-based auctioneers Gardiner Houlgate in London on November 6.

An auction of promises will be held at Moreton Hall School on November 10, with the proceeds helping to fund a scholarship in the name of the late Shropshire auctioneer Richard Allen.

The highlight of the two-day sale of clocks and watches conducted by Gardiner Houlgate of Corsham, near Bath on October 19-20 was this rare 17th century coach or clockwatch consigned by a Bristol family who had owned it for at least a century. Measuring 31/2in (9cm) across, it is shown here a little over life-size.

AMERICAN folk art moved into new territory at Sotheby’s New York on October 6 when this life-size Indian chief weathervane with a rich verdigris patina sold for $5.2m/£2.9m (plus 20/12% buyer’s premium).

American auction houses relying on eBay Live Auctions to bolster bidding via the internet, were left frustrated on Saturday, October 21 when a server supporting the live auction portion of the site failed.

The 2001 Irish heritage laws are again being tested after a local council announced its intent to stop the sale of an 18th century fireplace on the grounds that – although not fitted in the property until the early 1970s – it is now an essential feature of the house.

MASTER Drawings in New York, a new Anglo-American trade initiative will be launched in January. It is modelled on Master Drawings in London which has been held since 2001.