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A trio of auctioneers have announced plans for further expansion into the London market. Joined by specialists in new disciplines, The Pedestal has plans for a London sale, Tennants has taken offices in the capital while Chiswick Auctions is hiring more staff.

MPs have called for a “quick, affordable and not too bureaucratic” registration process for items containing less than 10% ivory under the bill that will usher in a near-total ban on the trade in ivory objects.

The Works on Paper Fair has ceased running after more than 30 years – a reflection of a contracting market, dealers say.

Three modestly valued works in regional sales, including a watercolour by Punch illustrator Arthur George Watts (1883-1935).

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period June 7-13, 2018. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Two notable single-owner collections, augmented by items from the round of Oriental art sales, made spring a bumper crop in the specialist world of fans.

“The open road, the dusty highway, the heath, the common, the hedgerows, the rolling downs!”

MADAM – Like David Carter (ATG No 2345) I can remember the time when we auctioneers could make a living with only seller’s commission of 10%.

A painting created by Antonio Canova (1757-1822) as an 18th century art world prank has been rediscovered after more than 200 years.

Catalogued as Anglo-Indian but probably Indo-Portuguese, this ivory, tortoiseshell and white metal casket, below, was a box of delight for the vendor.

A plaster plaque of a mother and child drew multiple bids when it was offered at Hutchinson Scott (20% buyer’s premium) in Skipton, North Yorkshire.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from June 19-29, 2018.

“It was totally unexpected – as the best finds always are,” Derbyshire auctioneer Charles Hanson told ATG. “A client came along to our office in East Molesey carrying a cardboard box. Inside, wrapped in an old tea towel, was not one, but two, Fabergé flowers.”

Bound together, first editions of both parts of the 1679-83 edition of Maria Sybilla Merian’s study of caterpillars and their transformation into butterflies, Der Raupen…, sold to a Danish bidder for €42,000 (£32,060) in a sale held by Ketterer Kunst (23% buyer’s premium) of Hamburg.

An auction record for FCB Cadell (1883-1937) was the highlight of Sotheby’s 31-lot sale of works from the Harrison collection of Scottish Colourists, writes Alex Capon.

Advertising and souvenir fans from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries received a mixed reception at the April 10 Special Auction Services sale at Newbury devoted to works collected by the late Martin Willcocks.

A quartet of oils by the contemporary British painter Sherree Valentine-Daines (b.1959) produced multi-estimate prices when they went under the hammer in Sussex.

Consisting of just two autograph leaves, but catalogued as “one of the most important fragments still in private hands”, a manuscript dating from the last years of Mozart’s short life topped a recent London music sale.