News topics

A crease that runs around the lower part of the dust jacket detracts somewhat from the appeal of a first impression copy of the first of Ian Fleming’s Bond books, Casino Royale of 1953, but it sold for £16,000 in a March 1 sale held by Bonhams (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).

A coin sold in the Dix Noonan Webb (20% buyer’s premium) auction on March 15 is a poignant reminder of the mysterious death of the Princes in the Tower.

Furniture takes a rare top spot despite numerous and varied delights at Dorchester auction

Past playthings by a host of famous vintage toy manufacturers will feature in the next Signature sale of Toys and Trains held by the specialist auction house Bertoia in Vineland, New Jersey, on March 25.

The legal impasse surrounding the restitution of thousands of historical documents and manuscripts from the scandal-hit Aristophil investment scheme was finally broken last week.

Since its launch in 2002 the TEFAF Art Market Report has established itself as the art and antiques trade’s key annual barometer of size and trends.

Typewriters on which famous books came into existence have featured on these pages before, but not for some time – and certainly not machines of a kind that that continue to be used by their owner to this day.

The Pittsfield, Massachusetts, auction house Fontaine’s has a track record of selling good examples of horology and has achieved some very high prices recently for elaborate English clocks made for the Chinese market.

A select sale of just 31 lots of Asian art assembled by a Japanese collector and his sons raised a recordbreaking $262.8m (£215.5m) at Christie’s New York on March 15. It made more in a single evening than any New York Asian sale series.

It is not often that market economists agree, and so it goes with the TEFAF Art Market Report’s current and previous authors. Economics is, after all, not an exact science and analysing a market as opaque as art and antiques is certainly problematic.

The taxidermy market continues to grow – particularly for showpiece lots such as the Bengal tiger’s head offered at Andrew Smith (19% buyer’s premium) of Winchester on February 8.

Munich coin fair raided by 30 police as Nagel moves Asian sale to Austria

An academic report based on a small sample of dealers and auctioneers has called for “significant structural changes” to the laws governing the sale of ivory.

This large, 6ft (1.8m) diameter circular oil on canvas, 'April' is the work of the Nabis painter Maurice Denis. It is one of three ceiling panels commissioned from the artist by the musician Ernest Chausson for his Parisian town house between 1894 and 1899.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period March 9-15, 2017. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Rare painting by 19th century American artist achieves record price at Bonhams

Possibly the first printed reference to a ‘Great White’ shark attack is found in a four-page pamphlet, printed in Naples in 1721, from which the woodcut shown here is taken.

We regret to announce the death on March 11 of Cotswolds dealer Stephen Jarrett of Witney Antiques.

A lithograph of David Roberts’ (1796-1864) lost painting The siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under the command of Titus took top honours at Staffordshire auction house Cuttlestones (17.5% buyer’s premium) on March 2-3.

Concerns are mounting that a new government money laundering watchdog will lead to further red tape for dealers and auctioneers in the UK.