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The Mayor of London has confirmed the Met’s Art and Antiques Unit will re-form and will be led by a new head to take office this month.

Maltese furniture commands a premium – and not simply because it appeals to a committed group of island collectors.

Martel Maides in St Peter Port, Guernsey will sell a massive collection of Channel Islands silver on October 18, writes Roland Arkell.

An exceptionally rare bird’s eye view of Chicago before the devastating fire of 1871 that destroyed so much of the old city was sold for $160,000 (£118,520) by local saleroom Leslie Hindman (20/20/12% buyer’s premium) on September 15.

Top-seller at guns specialist Southams (15% buyer’s premium) in Bedford on September 20 was acased pair of flintlock double-barrelled travelling pistols.

A single-owner collection relating to the English Civil War featured among the 740 lots that made up a September 6 sale held by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (21% buyer’s premium).

Narwhal tusks, once sold for colossal sums to Elizabethan gentleman as unicorn horns, continue to be in demand as sculptural natural history objects of contemplation.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Dealer Mark Weiss specialises in Tudor and Stuart portraiture and for the past few years he has spent early October exhibiting at Frieze Masters.

The Master Drawings New York (MDNY) initiative has expanded its brief for 2018 to include painting and sculpture dealers among its 30 participants for the first time.

A ‘Glory of Science’ sale held by Bloomsbury Auctions (24/18/12% buyer’s premium) on September 14 included books, prints, photographs, letters, etc, and was one in which astronomy and space travel played a significant part where higher bids were concerned.

Italy has approved new laws relaxing the country’s art export regulations.

Perhaps the rarest of all Beswick’s output is the pit pony figure Spirit of Whitfield.