Auctions

The art and antiques trade has reacted with mixed views over the launch of an investigation into the way auction houses display their commission rates. A number of dealers have told ATG that an investigation into transparency of buyer’s premium is long overdue, while auctioneers have pointed out that the proposed changes would be unnecessary and impractical.

A new auction house has been set up in South Africa. Aspire Art Auctions will hold their inaugural sale in Johannesburg on October 31.

Estimated at £1200-1800, a rare Tunbridge ware spice box sold for £10,600 at Bleasdales in Warwick.

The Olympic Games produce magical memories and high achievement and few competitors have created so many memories and achieved as much as Usain Bolt.

Charles Lindbergh’s flying helmet which the American aviator wore on his record-breaking solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927 is to be offered for sale in Paris this autumn.

A record price for a work by Sir Lawrence Gowing (1918-1991) came at the latest fine art sale held by Brightwells of Leominster.

One of a great many books removed from a couple of terraced houses in Norwich for sale by Keys of Aylsham was an 1612 first English edition of the first part only of Don Quixote.

Joseph Trinder, 23, has been elected president of The National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers (NAVA) for 2016-17, the youngest member to hold the position in the association’s history.

Sotheby’s latest results showed the firm has increased profits despite a significant fall in auction sales. Their share price jumped by over 15% after the figures were released earlier today.

New London books and works on paper specialists Forum Auctions plan to hold their first jewellery and watches sale in November following the appointment of Andrea de Miglio as the head of a new department.

A 366-year-old book on the virtues of Charles I is to go under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers after it was discovered in a box among 20th-century paperbacks.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In which case, LS Lowry must be one of the most ‘flattered’ artists around.

August 9, 1967. That was the day when Kenneth Halliwell killed his lover Joe Orton using a hammer. Nine blows to the head. Halliwell then committed suicide.

When American amateur golfer Robert E Hunter won a gold medal at the 1904 Olympics he could not have ever envisaged that the next chance to compete in the Games would be 2016.

The Golden Age of Polar exploration is a constant source of fascination. Essentially, this period is the first three decades of the 20th century, when names such as Shackleton, Scott, Amundsen and Peary came to fame.

Pablo Picasso is revered as a key pioneer of Cubism, the radical approach to representing reality that he spearheaded with Georges Braque in the early 1900s. As with so many art movements, its roots extend further back, however.

Flat tyres and a thick film of dust, dirt and grime. Last on the road in the 1960s. It doesn’t exactly scream ‘buy me’. Especially for a £19,000 hammer price. Not to mention the fact that it’s going to cost you many thousands more to restore.

The Advertising Standards Authority have launched an investigation into the way auction houses display their commission rates.

A skull and crossbones ring or a skeleton on a chain are now likely to be seen hanging from a Goth looking like they have just stepped out of a Tim Burton film or heading for the biannual Whitby music fest.

A ‘unique’ Victoria Cross at auction usually means one thing – a bid from Lord Ashcroft. And that’s exactly how it turned out at the latest orders and decoration auction held by London saleroom Dix Noonan Webb.