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

Panini Cover

Complete copy of first Panini World Cup sticker album offered at Hansons

03 April 2025

A completed copy of a 1970 World Cup Panini sticker album will appear at Hansons on April 10.

2688NE Burns 3

Lost portrait of Robert Burns appears at auction

02 April 2025

A hitherto lost portrait of Robert Burns by Sir Henry Raeburn has resurfaced at Wimbledon Auctions on March 31.

Charles Mahoney Still Life With Blue Stocks In An Earthenware Jar Copy

Gallery heralds spring with floral exhibition

02 April 2025

Chrysanthemums and orchids will wilt and expire, but a painting can last for centuries.

Virgil Finlay

Virgil Finlay sci-fi illustration makes 16 times estimate

02 April 2025

A pen and ink signed illustration by American pulp fiction illustrator Virgil Finlay (1914-1971) made 16 times its estimate at Gildings on March 25.

Highly Important 17Th Century Charles II Floral Marquetry Table By Gerrit Jensen 2 1

Charles II marquetry table comes to market after decades

01 April 2025

What has five legs and could have given pleasure to British royalty? A table by Gerrit Jensen, of course.

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Cartier Tutti Frutti pin buyer nails at at £15,000

31 March 2025

‘Tutti Frutti’ is the name given to Cartier’s range of brightly coloured jewels in the Indian style from the 1920s-30s.

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Fond memories of Gorringe’s gone by - and excitement about the auction house's future

31 March 2025

Sussex and Kent saleroom Gorringe’s begins a new chapter this month under full family ownership and new management.

Burglar jailed for 30 months after Hansons break-in

31 March 2025

A man who broke into Derbyshire auction house Hansons and stole over £20,000 worth of items has been jailed.

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Fabergé - always providing great provenances and wonderful histories

31 March 2025

A white-glove sale tells its own story about the health of a market

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Collector of Naga objects never went to meet the Nagas

31 March 2025

Before independence in 1947, the Naga hill tribes of north-east India were considered an exotic society, radically different in culture and beliefs from the better-known Hindu peoples of the plains and renowned for their fierce resistance to British rule.

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Not in tip-top condition but cream jug belonged to Tipping

31 March 2025

The sale at Bellmans (25% buyer’s premium) in Billingshurst, West Sussex on February 17 included a small silver gilt rococo-style cream jug of a type that remains something of an enigma.

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Leicester letter shows his serious side after earlier flirtations with Elizabeth I

31 March 2025

Letter to Queen Elizabeth I written after Robert Dudley’s marriage lacks the earlier flirtatious tone

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Mouseman works going, going, gong in Yorkshire

31 March 2025

The craftsman-made Yorkshire oak furniture of Robert Thompson continues to be in high demand at auction.

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Different jewels but both from the subcontinent

31 March 2025

The Fine Jewellery sale at Dreweatts (26% buyer’s premium) in Newbury on March 19 included two quite different lots from the subcontinent - and both were well received.

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Heads up for overseas bidders active at Oxford auction

31 March 2025

Two very different works offered in Oxford now have new owners from Australia and continental Europe

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Thorburn’s kingfisher makes a £14,000 contribution

31 March 2025

As readers may recall from previous articles on these pages, when it comes to the works of the great ornithological artist Archibald Thorburn (1860-1935) depictions of game birds tend to be the most commercial subjects.

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Writing chairs sat unnoticed until a deluge of enquiries poured in

31 March 2025

Chinese chairs smaller and less formal than the ‘yoke-back’ or ‘horseshoe-back’ armchairs are referred to as rose chairs (meiguiyi) or writing chairs (wenyi).

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Pick of the Week: Urns made in Glasgow sold in Glasgow

31 March 2025

Among the most desirable of all Scottish garden ornaments are the Garnkirk urns, a pair of neoclassical vases first made for the Great Exhibition of 1851.

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Rare 1875 Wisden hits £27,000 result despite missing original wrappers

31 March 2025

A copy of what is regarded as probably the rarest edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack came up at Knights Sporting Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) on March 21-23.

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The language of love and loss

31 March 2025

Far more fluent than us in the language of jewellery and stones, Georgians and the Victorians would immediately have made the link between snakes and eternal love.

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