UK

The United Kingdom accounts for more than one fifth of the global art market sales and is the second biggest art market after the US.

Through auctioneers, dealers, fairs and markets - and a burgeoning online sector - buyers, collectors and sellers of art and antiques can easily access a vibrant network of intermediaries and events around the country. The UK's museums also house a wealth of impressive collections

img_13-1.jpg

Record price shows another Rossetti could be on the rise

17 April 2026

Lucy Madox Brown Rossetti (1843-94) was linked to two of the most famous artistic families of the 19th century.

img_12-4.jpg

Carpet at Christie’s lay under notable personages

17 April 2026

A 17th century Safavid carpet on offer at Christie’s in London on April 30 is woven into the ceremonial life of the British monarchy in the early 20th century.

img_14-4.jpg

Why artist Joseph Southall chose to go to work on an egg

17 April 2026

Joseph Southall’s (1861-1944) picture Cymon and Iphigenia was probably made with the help of the artist’s chickens.

img_10-4.jpg

Chorister commended by Elizabeth II

17 April 2026

This copy of The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha (Cambridge: at the University Press, 1961) is signed in ink by Queen Elizabeth II on a mounted presentation plate, dated Christmas 1961.

img_11-5.jpg

Mollie of Sydenham became a valued member of Hartnell’s team making sumptuous royal fashion

17 April 2026

Royal costumes and fashion have long been a source of fascination.

Paxton House Antiques and Decorative Fair

An event that borders on the inspirational

17 April 2026

“Unfortunately, Paxton House won’t allow us to chop down any historic trees to add more marquees,” joked Seppe Anthony, co-organiser at Glam Racket Events.

img_12-3.jpg

Mug up on coronation dates

17 April 2026

The unknown maker of this commemorative creamware mug produced for the coronation of King George IV seems to have been in a rush.

An old ship's bell

Antiques fair is a surprise success in Orkney

17 April 2026

Colin Richards is professor of prehistoric archaeology at the University of the Highlands and Islands on the Orkney Islands.

img_14-2.jpg

The best genre art generates big prices

17 April 2026

A strong result for a 19th century genre picture was achieved for the Italian artist Vittorio Reggianini (1858-1939) at Tennants (24% buyer’s premium) of Leyburn, North Yorkshire.

img_15-3.jpg

Véra Russell collection: A window into the world of art

17 April 2026

Collection of gallery owner and exhibition organiser includes letters from the likes of Bacon and Hockney

img_21-1.jpg

Ben Nicholson was proud of his primitive taste

17 April 2026

A fragment of a Cycladic figure once owned by Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) is the lynchpin of an exhibition held by two dealers: Willoughby Gerrish and Elliot Davies.

Joan Eardley's Summer Fields

Rediscovered Joan Eardley picture found in a charity shop sells for a five-figure sum at an Edinburgh gallery

16 April 2026

A ‘long lost’ painting by Modern British artist Joan Eardley (1921-63) has been sold for £29,500 by The Scottish Gallery after it was rediscovered in an East Midlands charity shop.

Elveden Hall

Home of the last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire opens to the public for one-day event this summer

15 April 2026

The one-time home of the last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire will open to the public for one day this summer as part of an East Anglian literary festival.

‘Broadhembury’ ring

Tudor metal-detecting discovery to head to Devon museum with help of London dealer

14 April 2026

A Devon museum is in discussion with a jewellery dealer for the loan of a Tudor ring discovered by a metal-detectorist.

img_13-1.jpg

‘Second Lady’ in style of Lely takes first place in price terms

10 April 2026

Top-seller when a collection of antiques from the estate of a descendant of one of Britain’s longest-serving chancellors of the exchequer went to auction in the Cotswolds was an oil painting “in the manner of 17th century royal portraitist Peter Lely”.

img_9-6.jpg

Item revealed to be not a stool but a headrest puts in a spirited performance at auction

10 April 2026

Kali shaped from local hardwoods, typically ironwood, were traditionally made by canoe-builders in the South Sea islands.

img_9-3.jpg

Pocket globes put the world to rights

10 April 2026

Two of London’s salerooms sold Georgian pocket globes on March 12. Both hammered well above what proved modest estimates.

Pocket watch

Second watch said to have been found on body of Titanic victim John Jacob Astor emerges at auction

10 April 2026

Two years after a Wiltshire auction house set a record for Titanic memorabilia with “the watch recovered from the body of John Jacob Astor”, another timekeeper making precisely the same claim is coming to market.

Alice Liddell's bed

Alice in slumberland: bed once belonging to Alice Liddell comes to auction

10 April 2026

Alice Liddell was just a 10-year-old living in Oxford in the 1860s when Charles Dodgson – better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll – spun a fantastical tale to her and her two sisters Edith and Lorina on a summer afternoon by the Thames.

James and John Bly.

Exhibition celebrating John Bly at 135 years old and 300 years since Benjamin Franklin first appeared in London

10 April 2026

Antiques dealership John Bly is celebrating its 135th year in business with an exhibition.

News

Categories