Auctions

Bonhams have launched a new brand campaign centred on TV advertising. It is the first time that a major international auction house has advertised on TV.

This painting, found by John Nye of Bloomfield, New Jersey saleroom Nye & Company Auctions leaning up against a cellar wall, became one of the sleepers of the year on September 22.

Three years after Christie’s sold an earlier version for £20m, a second version of John Constable’s (1776-1837) The Lock is being offered at Sotheby’s Old Master & British Paintings Sale on December 9.

The 1864 Ascot Cup, an impressive Victorian silver racing trophy by Garrard, led proceedings at the three-day sale of the Felix Dennis (1947-2014) collection. It sold at £67,000.

Sir Norman Rosenthal, one of the art world’s best known historians and curators, has described the trade side of the business as “a huge mechanism for preserving knowledge and value”.

The charity behind the vision to revamp the ‘vintage market’ end of Portobello Road has amended its designs in the face of opposition to a key proposal.

A Grand Tour cork model of the Temple of Zeus at Paestum has sold for £44,000 at Hampstead Auctions in north London.

An embossed brass belt buckle discovered in the back garden of an old English cottage is a reminder that the very first Australian side to tour England was one made up entirely of Aborigines.

Bimbo The Giant Clown was the beaming white face of Pelham Puppets for decades.

A new law giving online auction buyers additional consumer protection rights has been criticised for throwing dealers and auction houses into a legal grey area.

Timing is everything in sport and at auction. With New Zealand firm favourites to retain the Webb Ellis Cup on October 31, this is surely the moment to sell the jersey of a legendary All Black.

Fans of Lord Snooty and his Pals, Big Eggo, Morgyn the Mighty and dear Contrary Mary were drawn to the Comic Book Auctions sale of September 13 by the appearance of a good copy of the very first issue of the Beano.

Florence’s longstanding Antiques Fair, the ‘Biennale Internationale dell’ Antiquariato di Firenze’, opens next week in the city’s 17th century Palazzo Corsini, running from September 26 to October 4.

Estimated at £2000-3000 in the printed catalogue, this Italian casket drew such pre-sale interest that it was quickly upgraded in the online catalogue to £5000-7000.

The Law Commission is still keen to hear from collectors and dealers about the impact a legal definition of ‘antique firearm’ may have on the trade in period weapons.

Phillips are to begin-streaming their sales live on eBay’s platform for upmarket auctions of fine art and antiques.

Exeter saleroom Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood will offer a well-provenanced oil by John Constable (1776-1837) in their October 6 fine art sale.

Items from the estate of Mary Burkett, former director of Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal, attracted great excitement and plenty of competition at Mitchells of Cockermouth last week.

Victoria Borwick MP has pledged to lobby against possible changes in legislation that could adversely affect the art and antiques trade, telling the industry to “see me as your champion in parliament”.

Christie’s have announced a major highlight for the upcoming New York auction series. They are offering Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu couché (Reclining Nude) which they have estimated at in excess of $100m.