UK

An oil sketch by Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) for his renowned painting ‘Liberty Leading the People’ was knocked down at £2.6m at auction in London this week.

Recovered from a US buyer, three historic cannons are returning to Southend for a new exhibition.

Four Old Master paintings from the collection of the late president of TEFAF, Willem Baron van Dedem, have been donated to the National Gallery.

A supermarket carrier bag concealed a battle-weary but still wearable pair of sandals worn by Lawrence of Arabia.

West Sussex furniture dealer Richard Courtney has been awarded a distinguished service medal by the British Antiques Dealers’ Association.

In covering art and antiques, it is easy to overlook the role of the collector in among the people who created objects in the first place, and of course the dealers and auctioneers who sell them. But one collector, the late David Brown, is the subject of a show coming up in Winchester.

Guildford auction house Ewbank’s has agreed to suspend a planned memorabilia auction today after discussions with The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation.

At the eleventh hour, Christie’s has taken the decision to withdraw the headline lot from the December 13 Books and Manuscripts sale in London after serious doubts were expressed over its authenticity.

A scarce coin showing a portrait of the first Tudor monarch has been bought at auction on behalf of the Royal Mint Museum for £44,000.

The BADA Friends have ‘adopted’ a young ceramics student who is among the first intake of new ceramics programme.

A rare engraving of ‘Canterbury’s Magna Carta’ of 1215 has been saved for the Kent city after it appeared in a sale at The Canterbury Auction Galleries.

A selection of snaps from the annual British Antiques Dealers’ Association Christmas party in Belgravia last week.

A piano owned by Queen Victoria is on offer at dealership Sherwood Phoenix after being rediscovered in an Oxfordshire church.