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The record business enjoyed by London’s coin auction houses during Covid lockdowns largely continued last year.

The owner of auction house Bonhams is reported to be investigating the viability of selling the firm for around $1bn.

The LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair has signed up more than half of the stands for its autumn event this year, just four weeks after confirming the new dates.

A huge collection of cameos bought by the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (National Museum of Antiquities) will now go on display at the museum in Leiden.

A cache of material from descendants of the Starbuck family, a Quaker whaling family influential in both the abolitionist movement and the founding of Nantucket as a whaling centre, was the highlight of Catherine Southon’s sale on February 8.

Produced six years after the much more common 1847 dated Gothic Crown of which 8000 were made, the 1853 Gothic Crown was struck only in a very limited number.

Struck c.1500 in Lisbon from Guinean gold provided by the explorations of Vasco da Gama, the 10 cruzados piece or Portugués do ouro of Manuel I (1495-1521) is a coin synonymous with the Age of Discovery.

To one side of this gold aureus struck in Rome in 180-83 is a sensually draped portrait of the goddess Venus.

Lawrences of Crewkerne kicks off 2023 with an extensive £1m (premium-inclusive) series of sales over several days

The sale at Hansons (25% buyer’s premium) in Teddington on January 28 included what was marketed as ‘Queen Victoria’s post box’.

Many of the best-sellers at Roseberys’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) auction of Modern British and 20th century art in south London came from the collection of former Wall Street banker Geoffrey Elliott (1939-2021) and his wife Fay.

A large and highly decorated processional cross, 18 x 10in (45 x 25cm), from 13th century Limoges is among the highlights in Bernard Descheemaeker’s exhibition and latest catalogue.

The sale at Clark’s Auction Company in California on February 19 includes this Moser enamelled glass fish vase.

Couple already running four branches take on Dunster event to boot

This single-page letter offered on January 19 by Mellors & Kirk (24% buyer’s premium) tells the remarkable story of Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori (1762-1829).

The Asian art sale at John McInnis in Massachusetts on February 25 includes this pair of Qing ‘official’s hat’ type huanghuali armchairs.

Two Chinese blue and white dishes, recognised by bidders as examples of the bleu de Huế porcelain, flew to £20,500 at a sale in Dorset on January 26.

South London event benefits from extra business after the string of recent fair cancellations

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Stephanie Castell runs The Secondhand Warehouse in Leominster, Herefordshire, and Two Cs Antiques Fairs with Ben Cooper.