Front Page and News

The London auctions ‘hub’ of 25 Blythe Road will now operate under a single banner of Olympia Auctions.

The government is proposing to strengthen the Treasure Act to include important finds that do not fit the current legal definition.

Industry trade bodies have launched a survey that will attempt to measure the financial impact of the Ivory Act (2018) which comes into force later this year. Collectors, dealers and auctioneers of antique ivory are being encouraged to take part.

Christie’s has raised its buyer’s premium, increasing the level at which its 25% threshold applies and adding an extra percentage point to its charges above £3m.

ATG has learned that the collection of rare Danish silver advertised on two pages of ATG No 2359 as stolen has been returned to its owner.

The potential for vendors and auctioneers to strike it rich in the field of Chinese works of art is alive and well.

The Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association has signed up US online marketplace Biblio as chief sponsor of its flagship annual fair on June 7-9.

An auction record for a British coin was set in New York when a 1703 Vigo five guineas piece sold at $900,000 (£703,000) – $1.08m (£845,000) including premium. The sale was conducted by Baldwin’s of St James’s as part of The New York Premier Sale in Manhattan on January 13.

Historical weapons from the personal armoury of Tipu Sultan will be offered for sale in Oxfordshire in the spring.

This Aesthetic movement X-frame armchair took £11,000 against an estimate of just £100-150 at Lawrences of Crewkerne.

An unusual painting of a fishing boat by Egon Schiele (1890-1918) will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in London next month.

With Biblio as partner and a rebrand of its annual fair, the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association is expecting a spike in visitors and exhibitors at its flagship event.

Salisbury saleroom Woolley & Wallis regained top spot in the UK regional auction market for 2018, while the investment at Chiswick Auctions has begun to bear fruit. These were just two of the findings in ATG's annual review of the hammer totals and trends at some of the leading salerooms in the UK and Ireland.

A single-owner collection, including significant works from the Modern British canon, sold for £541,200 at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet last week.

Estimated at just £150-200, a sardonyx cameo ring sold to a dealer for £39,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) at auction.