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

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Antiques dealer's French imperial naval eagle soars at auction

24 August 2020

According to his family, this French imperial naval eagle was purchased by the dealer Jack Webb (1923-2019) from a ‘totter’ in the early 1970s over the counter at his shop in Camden Passage.

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Dealer’s kitchen antiques collection finds new home

24 August 2020

A vast collection of Victorian kitchen antiques formed by a dealer from Kent has found a new home in North Yorkshire.

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Statues surface from sunken garden site after decades in the undergrowth

24 August 2020

An extraordinary cache of garden statuary, unseen for decades, comes for sale at Summers Place Auctions next month.

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Pick of the week: Disc-end spoon discovery scoops £21,000

24 August 2020

While most early Scottish spoon types follow closely known and comparable patterns from England or mainland Europe, the ‘disc-end’ is an exception. Made for perhaps a century from c.1580, it is a form seemingly unique to Scotland.

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A military watch collection, a Bernard Leach jar and a Shakespeare halfpenny are among the five lots to watch at auction this week

24 August 2020

With estimates from £100-35,000 here are five previews of upcoming items this week.

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The Mouseman in his prime

24 August 2020

Classic Robert Thompson products from family collections underline current keen demand.

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Batavian box gives buyer something to chew on

24 August 2020

The centuries-old Indonesian habit of chewing betel nut, the fruit of the reach palm, was quickly adopted by settlers from the Dutch East India Company who appreciated both its psychoactive properties and its importance as a local social ritual.

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Bayonet axed for being costly is now highly valauble

24 August 2020

The so-called Elcho bayonet was designed for the Martini-Henry rifle in 1870 by Lord Elcho, the 10th Earl of Wemyss & March.

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The web shop window: marriage casket

24 August 2020

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

More stalls welcome at Windsor market

24 August 2020

Suzanne Hall is the organiser of a small monthly midweek antiques and fleamarket in Old Windsor which is reopening as lockdown eases on Wednesday, September 2, at the Memorial Hall.

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Bonhams sticks to early offering

24 August 2020

While Sotheby’s and Christie’s shifted their main Old Master offerings to the end of July, Bonhams (27.5/25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium) maintained its auction earlier in the month with a sale in New Bond Street on July 7-8.

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Carving much mightier than a mouse

24 August 2020

The Robert Thompson firm produced shire horses, such as this example offered by Lawrences (25% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne on July 23, from the 1960s-90s.

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Politician proves influential in the antiques world

24 August 2020

Edward Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond (1944-2014) – the founder of the Norbrook pharmaceutical group in Northern Ireland – proved just as influential in the world of politics as he was in business.

GNB aims to be back in Brentwood in November

24 August 2020

For the first time in 26 years GNB Fairs will not be running an antiques and collectors’ fair at the Brentwood Centre in Essex over the August bank holiday weekend.

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Sphinx flies in black glass

24 August 2020

The best-known press-moulded models made by John Derbyshire at the Regent Road Flint Glassworks in Salford are the series of animal and figural paperweights made in frosted, flint and coloured glass.

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Lifelong friends paired up at Eames

24 August 2020

The lithographs of Alexander Calder (1898-1976) and Joan Miró (1893-1983) feature at Eames Fine Art’s exhibition Miró and Calder: Simpatico, which runs until August 30.

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Bottle vase supplies a £55,000 Chinese surprise

24 August 2020

Solid selling punctuated by a number of estimate-eclipsing bids made the July 17-18 sale a very welcome return to business for Tennants (20% buyer’s premium).

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Bronze deity makes a jumbo price

24 August 2020

In Tibetan Buddhism the elephant-headed deity Vignataka is treated with considerable ambivalence.

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Even Old Masters have to wait

24 August 2020

Leading works held back until mixed-category July auctions in a drawn-out sales season.

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Golden oldies: abbey archive and penitential work for preachers

24 August 2020

Sold at £140,000 in the first of two early manuscript sales held by Bloomsbury Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on July 8 was a lot featured in the front page story in ATG No 2447.

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