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

66970 1

Collection of commander killed when HMS Hood was sunk by the Bismarck comes to auction

01 May 2024

When HMS Hood was sunk on May 24, 1941, it caused shock waves throughout the world, given that the Royal Navy battlecruiser was regarded as one of the most technically advanced warships then afloat.

Returned clock

Stolen 18th century bracket clock returned to museum after more than 20 years

30 April 2024

An 18th century bracket clock by the English clockmaker Thomas Hunter Jr (c.1760-70) has been recovered after being stolen 23 years ago.

Titanic watch

Pocket watch from the richest Titanic passenger boosts saleroom to best ever auction result

29 April 2024

A gold pocket watch that was found on the body of American business magnate John Jacob Astor IV (1864-1912) following the Titanic disaster was hammered down at £900,000 in a sale at Henry Aldridge & Son.

De Morgan tile

Group of prime period De Morgan tiles take close to six-figure sum at auction

29 April 2024

The Art & Design post 1880 sale at Duke’s in Dorchester on April 25 included 44 lots of William De Morgan tiles consigned by descendants of Arthur James Balfour (1848-1930), Earl of Balfour and prime minister from 1902-05. He is understood to have bought them directly from De Morgan in Fulham.

Matt Easton

Royal Mail now refuses to deliver antique swords

29 April 2024

An antique arms and armour dealer is leading a campaign to stop couriers from restricting the delivery of antique examples.

img_5-4.jpg

Roseberys' MD Vicki Wonfor leaves after 15 years at the auction house

29 April 2024

Roseberys’ managing director Vicki Wonfor has left the south London auction house after 15 years at the firm.

Judith Miller

Judith Miller’s final price guide is now available

29 April 2024

The latest 'Miller’s Antiques Handbook & Price Guide' has been published, the last to have been written by the late Judith Miller.

Admiral Sir Francis Austen drawings

Auction buy set to shed light on Jane Austen

29 April 2024

A 78-page manuscript bought at a Bonhams auction could help to shed light on author Jane Austen.

img_42-4.jpg

Retiring at the right time

29 April 2024

Last month, Dianne Brick of Amherst Antiques announced she was winding up her business specialising in Tunbridge Ware after 39 years.

img_81-1.jpg

‘First black person to be depicted on a sampler’

29 April 2024

Jeremy Knight, a book collector and the former curator of Horsham Museum and Art Gallery, believes he has purchased an artwork that is “the earliest-known illustration of a black person on an English sampler”.

img_16-4.jpg

Satyrs and nymphs back at Billingshurst

29 April 2024

The first auctions of the year at Summers Place Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Billingshurst – a live event on March 26 and a sealed bids sale on March 27 – included this pair of rare Portland stone groups of a nymph and satyr by Charles Sargeant Jagger (1885-1934).

img_72-4.jpg

Parking problems addressed at Giant Shepton Flea

29 April 2024

The nursery rhyme 'Rain, rain go away' could be the response after the UK experienced in the past 18 months the fourth-wettest period since records began.

img_26-1.jpg

Churchill letter on o-fish-al business

29 April 2024

Nelson and Napoleon are just two of the historical figures to have collecting markets devoted to themselves. Another is Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965).

img_15-1.jpg

Ornate mirror has the Thomas Johnson look about it

29 April 2024

The furniture highlight of Cheffins’ (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) latest Fine sale in Cambridge was the catalogue cover star.

img_26-3.jpg

B for Byron: letter of apology

29 April 2024

Found in a country house in Gloucestershire, this letter written by Lord Byron (1788-1824) to Major John Cartwright (1740-1824) sold for £6000 at Chorley’s (28.2% buyer’s premium inc VAT) on March 20.

img_39-1.jpg

How to make succession a success story

29 April 2024

The age-old saying has it that dealers never really retire, but life does not always run according to adages.

img_72-1.jpg

Photographica fair: market develops in different ways

29 April 2024

One of the exhibitors at this month’s Photographica says ‘point and shoot’ cameras are in demand

img_15-2.jpg

Davenport displays Irish touch

29 April 2024

Irish marquetry furniture is a very distinctive form of decorative technique associated in particular with Killarney.

img_16-1.jpg

Collector gripped by Classical Greek pottery appeal

29 April 2024

Among the highlights of Sworders’ (25% buyer’s premium) Fine Interiors sale was a collection of antiquities formed by the late Sir Clinton Charles Donald Cory (1937-2022), 5th Baronet of Coryton.

img_25-2.jpg

Uncle Sam joins the world as influential timeline gets an update

29 April 2024

'A New Chart of History' by the British chemist and natural philosopher Joseph Priestley is considered one of the most influential timelines published in the 18th century.

News

Categories