News topics

The paintings of Welsh landscape artist Kyffin Williams (1918-2006) are much in evidence in this, the year of his centenary, and nowhere so much as in his native land.

Published in 1895, Wright & Dixon’s Guide to American Golf… was one of the very first books on the game to appear in that country. A copy sold on April 12 in San Francisco for $42,500 (£29,930) was billed as “perhaps the only copy extant”.

Multi-estimate sums proved the norm among the star lots during London’s Islamic Week auction series.

Chinese porcelain resumed its traditional dominance among the Oriental offerings at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) in Leyburn.

An ideal marriage of skills, rather than a clash of cultures, put a pair of c.1790-1800 Chinese export vases into the limelight at Hannam’s (20% buyer’s premium) sale at Selborne.

Three more modestly valued works drawing attention at recent regional sales below £1500 included a Venetian view by English painter Peter Kuhfeld.

MADAM – I am sending you a photo of some small sewing tools in carved ivory, made c.1840.

One of the smallest but most eye-catching lots at the Oriental sale at Bonhams Edinburgh (25% buyer’s premium) was two 4¼in (11cm) high Manchu officials’ bronze seals.

Works by the flamboyant Lord Berners come to auction from Faringdon House contents sale.

Early works painted before an artist has adopted their signature style can make for intriguing viewing – especially if that artist is widely known.

First such pocket atlas published in England leads a look at highly diverse auction selection

New York City hosts another edition as the fair format becomes established in the US

MADAM – We are all devastated at what is being proposed by the government in relation to ivory.

The Hon Sir William McAlpine, avid collector and conservationist, died on March 4 after a three-month battle with sepsis. News of his death will have depressed a great many dealers, not just because he was an incredibly nice, fun, generous man, but because he was a voracious collector.

Printed for circulation only among members of the imperial family and those foreign dignitaries who had participated in the celebrations, an album recording the 1883 coronation in Moscow of Tsar Alexander III and the Empress Marie Feodorovna sold for $30,000 (£21,125) in a US sale.

Several decades ago, when China was shut to the Western world, encounters with foreigners were understandably rare.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from May 1-12, 2018.

Estimated at £10,000-15,000, a pair of James II silver candlesticks sold at £62,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at the Woolley & Wallis silver sale in Salisbury.

Antiques fair organiser IACF is offering a free pitch at one of its fairs to newcomers in return for agreeing to take part in filming a day in the life of the winner.

Auctioneers have told ATG the preparations they are making for sweeping new rules that will affect how they store and use personal data, due to be implemented in the EU on May 25.