UK

Few auction houses have expanded their roster of full-time staff over the past 12 months but one of those bucking the trend is Forum Auctions.

This coin, from the period known as ‘The Anarchy’, was discovered by a metal detectorist in a Yorkshire field in March.

Although now known as Gainsborough chairs, generous walnut and upholstered armchairs were often referred to by contemporaries as ‘French’ chairs, as the most elaborate styles were based on French rococo.

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.

In the absence of face-to-face contact, 2020 was a difficult year for the numismatics market as a whole... but the auction business found a way to thrive.

A record for a British token was set at Dix Noonan Webb on May 26 when this copper coin – the only specimen known in commerce – took £7000 (estimate £400-500).

Quartet of West Country works featured in the same sale as our £105,000 cover star

Work produced in Brussels in the 1530s by a master of illumination soars way over estimate in Sotheby's London auction

Miles Wynn Cato, a specialist in traditional Welsh and British art, is closing his gallery in Ludlow and relocating to Cheltenham.

A sketchbook by English artist and muralist Barbara Jones (1912-78) is among the items for sale at 'Firsts Online: Winter Edition'.

Showing that not all the best UK numismatic action takes place in London, the first known gold coin of Caratacus – unearthed by a metal detectorist a year earlier in a Berkshire field – sold at auction for a record £71,000 an auction in Norwich.

Roma Numismatics set a new record for a classical coin when a Brutus Eid Mar-type gold aureus, struck shortly after the murder of Julius Caesar, took £2.7m in October.

Though incomplete and in a decorative 19th century binding, a very desirable early Bible impressed at Chiswick Auctions (25/12% buyer’s premium).

The numismatic department of TimeLine is a small but important part of the auction house’s activities in the related disciplines of antiquities and medieval works of art.

The 1826 £5 piece was the highest denomination in the coinage of the George IV and was not issued for general circulation. The epitome of Regency design, the reverse features the royal shield while the obverse designed by William Wyon features the bare head portrait.

Two pieces of sculpture – both catalogued as 19th century copies – made much higher than expected prices in the UK regions last month.

The highest auction price for 12 years for Beryl Cook (1926-2008) was posted at David Lay’s recent fine art sale.

With ski season on ice for so many, exhibitions offering snowy scenes could fill in

Dix Noonan Webb’s highest-priced lot of 2020 was this Crimean War Naval Brigade Victoria Cross group of four sold for £240,000 on October 15. The estimate was £120,000-160,000.