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

Silver inkwell

Pick of the week: Renowned collector Dailey adds ear of a war horse to his purchases

14 July 2025

The latest Homes & Interiors sale at Sworders included an extraordinary and highly personal relic from the Waterloo battlefield: a silver-mounted inkwell made from the ear of a war horse.

The Game Fair

LAPADA Pavilion no longer part of The Game Fair

14 July 2025

LAPADA dealers will not take part in this summer’s 'The Game Fair'.

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Egyptian Middle Kingdom carving is among five lots to watch

14 July 2025

With estimates from £3000, here are five previews of items coming up at auction this week

Stanley Spencer portrait

Stanley Spencer ‘personal’ lots sold at Dreweatts auction

14 July 2025

Billed as ‘the last opportunity to own something very personal from the family’s own collection’, a group of drawings, paintings, letters and memorabilia relating to Sir Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) came to auction from one of the artist’s descendants at Dreweatts.

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Promising sales for Classic Art London debut

14 July 2025

A watercolour by JMW Turner was one of the standout sales at the inaugural edition of Classic Art London (CAL).

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‘Critter’ bookends and Doulton mask make for lively sale

14 July 2025

Back in July 2019, Lawrences in Crewkerne set a new high for a Mouseman carving when a pair of elephant bookends by master carver Stan Dodds (1928-2012) sold at £10,000.

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Dealer's collection yields ‘white glove’ sale in Sussex

14 July 2025

Battle saleroom Burstow & Hewett (20% buyer’s premium) recently sold the ‘contents of a Sussex manor house’ – the lifetime collection of a local antiques collector and dealer.

Umayyad gold dinars

Set of gold dinars coming to auction reveal that 77 is the magic number

14 July 2025

On July 23 London-based specialist coin and medal auction house Morton & Eden is offering a complete set of 56 Umayyad gold dinars dating from years 77 to 132 in the Hijra calendar (696-750AD).

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Arranging a vintage fair in a brewery

14 July 2025

The Docker Brewery and Tap Room on the Five Acre Estate in Folkestone is the chosen easy-going venue for vintage clothing dealer Claire Burns’ new venture.

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RW Martin pond full of life at a £15,000 hammer price

14 July 2025

This stoneware pond by Robert Wallace Martin, measuring 6ft 6in (2m) across, comprises 40 architectural elements, each incised with fish and aquatic creatures among water weeds.

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A lawyer writes: Permanent improvement to temporary admissions

14 July 2025

Changes this week make importing art and antiques into the UK easier

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Hefty price achieved for ‘England’s fattest man’ portrait

14 July 2025

When Daniel Lambert, the famously rotund prison warden from Leicester, died in June 1809 at the Waggon and Horses Inn at Stamford, Lincolnshire, the title of ‘England’s fattest man’ transferred to a new contender.

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Remembering Gene Hoyle as Lytham firm holds closing sale

14 July 2025

The death of Gene Hoyle, dealer and well-known fair organiser in northwest England has led to the closure of the business he and his wife Zara managed and ran.

Heydon village ‘can’t wait’ for August fair

14 July 2025

Zoe Durrant-Keegan is the face behind Little Vintage Lover Fair which launched in 2008 and now runs two or three vintage fairs a year in north Norfolk.

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Cork Street galleries celebrate the first 100 years

14 July 2025

Exhibition titled 'Fear Gives Wings to Courage' celebrates a century of art dealing on London thoroughfare

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‘We’d love to be part of it again’: praise for new one-day Studiolo event

14 July 2025

Among the events debuting in London this summer was the one-day ‘fair’ Studiolo.

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John Ward group tests the market at Mallams

14 July 2025

A recent sale of Modern Art & Design at Mallams (25% buyer’s premium) in Oxford included a local collection of 21 pots by John Ward (1938-2023).

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Top stories this week including news of Turner’s earliest exhibited landscape selling at auction

13 July 2025

The most viewed stories on this website over the last week included news of JMW Turner’s first exhibited oil painting coming to Sotheby’s after being spotted at a regional sale last year.

Enamel advertising sign for Union Castle

Sign of the times: Union Castle enamel advert sails to UK’s second highest price

11 July 2025

A large maritime-themed advertising sign featuring the passenger liner Capetown Castle sold for £22,000 at bottles and advertising specialists BBR Auctions on July 6.

Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads

Rare copy of Victorian photograph book makes £40,000 at Roseberys

11 July 2025

Discovered buried in the back of a closet in the US, a rare surviving copy of Peter Henry Emerson’s 1886 work ‘Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads’ sold for £40,000 at Roseberys today.

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