Print Edition

An early Anglo-Dutch portrait of the swashbuckling English sea captain Sir Francis Drake topped Bonhams’ Old Master paintings sale on July 4 in New Bond Street. It sold for £290,000, just below its juicy £300,000-500,000 guide.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from July 25-August 15, 2018.

Auction houses in Bristol, Staffordshire and Norfolk have chosen to invest in new premises this year. Suggesting continued confidence in the regional auction market, Bristol Auction Rooms, Potteries Auctions and TW Gaze are planning to open new salerooms by the autumn.

This novelty silver scent bottle, below, appealing to two niche sections largely immune to the swings of the larger silver market, was a target for collectors when offered at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium).

Can endorsement by stars such as Beyoncé and Victoria Beckham boost the market?

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Over 20 years ago, leading art and antiques dealers in the picturesque Bavarian city of Bamberg came up with the idea of holding a coordinated summer sales exhibition.

MADAM – I write in reference to the letter from BADA chairman Michael Cohen, and the reply by LAPADA chief executive Freya Simms (ATG No 2351), on cooperation between the two organisations (Lewis J Baer of Newel, New York writes).

Considering that Norwich was, after London, the largest and wealthiest city in England from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution, its assay office (1562-1705) was comparatively shortlived. As such, secular silver produced in the city rarely appears on the market.

Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’s premium) is currently selling across a number of auctions a cache of items from the family of HG Murphy (1884-1939), whose Falcon Studio produced some of the finest English silver of the inter-war era.

The Royal Horticultural Society’s 65-acre gardens in a north Devon valley form the fragrant floral backdrop for Devon County Antiques Fairs’ quarterly two-day antiques and collectors’ events.

MADAM – May I trespass on your letters space? Some time ago, I bought at auction a painting by John Hoppner, RA (Leo Keane of Lancashire writes).

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including the sale of a rare bottle from 1682 that made a major return for the vendor.

Comprising some 3000 books ranging in date from 1473-1840, one of the finest collections of books on agriculture ever assembled was dispersed by Forum Auctions (30/24/14.4% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in a July 10-11 sale that totalled £1.6m.

Magic lanterns, peep shows and various other optical illusory and viewing devices will be on sale at a specialist Cologne auction firm offering photographic, scientific and collectors’ apparatus.

The so-called de minimis rule – the requirement to register items containing less than 10% of ivory prior to sale – has been criticised in the House of Lords as the ivory bill continues its progress through parliament.

‘Affordable mid-point fair’ will open in January to encourage face-to-face trade

London saleroom Dix Noonan Webb has bought the 'Britannia Medal Fair' “to ensure that it can remain at the Victory Services Club”, the central London venue where it has attracted dealers and collectors for more than 30 years.

Asian Art in London, the event that promotes London as the centre of the global Asian art trade, has increased the number of its auction house participants for the 21st edition (November 1-10).

Estimated at £200,000-300,000, the 'Hours of Isabella d’Este' sold at £340,000 (plus buyer’s premium) at Bloomsbury Auctions’ sale of Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures on July 10.