Front Page and News

Veteran antique arms and armour specialist David Williams is joining the Olympia Auctions team as senior consultant.

Best known for his fairly routine genre portraits of German peasants and ordinary folk, Thomas Baumgartner (1892-1962) also produced an intriguing series of paintings depicting soldiers from the First World War.

A new addition to the permanent collection of the Reform Club on Pall Mall is a William IV Scottish eight-day painted dial longcase.

Sworders’ run of single-owner sales continues with a two-day auction on May 13-14 titled Paul Atkinson, The Nomadic Collector.

In a loss to the sector, Bonhams has shelved its sales of Japanese works of art in London. Specialist Suzannah Yip, who had led Bonhams’ department for 18 years, has left the company after a decision was taken to move operations to Paris.

A diminutive Quaker pin cushion made to raise funds for a pioneering mental health hospital in York has sold for a remarkable sum at Woolley & Wallis.

Seven works by Ithell Colquhoun (1906-88) lead Bonhams’ inaugural British Surrealism sale running until May 1.

Dealers and collectors are still seeking clarity on whether the US ‘Liberation Day’ trade tariffs will apply to antiques.

An early work by LS Lowry (1887-1976) first sold to the literary editor of The Manchester Guardian for £10 in 1926 and kept by his family is now estimated at £700,000-£1m in a May 1-2 auction.

Art market businesses in the UK will shortly become subject to reporting requirements for financial sanctions.

One of perhaps only two known ruby red versions of the Whitefriars Banjo vase sold for £17,200 in Devon on April 9.