UK

The original ‘It’ bag, a Hermès Birkin, has proved yet again that it remains the world’s most desirable bag after setting an auction record for Fellows Auctioneers this week.

Fewer lots were on offer at this year’s Frieze-week auctions in London but demand generally held up with international bidders taking advantage of favourable exchange rates.

African artefacts, jewellery and fossils from a family collection linked to the celebrated palaeoanthropologists, the late Louis and Mary Leakey, are to be sold later this month at The Cotswold Auction Company.

The new management of Stanley Gibbons has launched a scathing attack on the way the firm had been run after the collectables and auction group posted losses of £29m.

Frontman Paul Weller’s shoes and bassist Bruce Foxton’s guitars were among 800 lots of The Jam memorabilia auctioned at the weekend.

A musket made in the Chinese Imperial workshops, complete with marks, will become the first of its kind to be offered at auction next month.

Philip Hoffman’s Fine Art Group are to launch a new finance company targeting artworks valued between $250,000 and $20m.

The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair ended October 2 after a six-day run that included a number of international sales.

Christie’s post-war and Contemporary art evening auction posted a strong performance last night with international bidders visiting London during Frieze week helping to bump up the results.

Livery cupboards are a pretty rare species in the oak lexicon but what makes the example shown here particularly unusual is its early date combined with the presence of drawers.

The opening of this year’s Frieze Masters was marked by a number of sales. Among the fashionable crowd who queued at Regents Park into the early evening yesterday for the opening of the fifth edition of the event, were many who came prepared to buy.

“It’s a super quality piece, the sort you can stand in front of for hours appreciating the quality and intricacy,” said Will Gilding in the wake of the sale of this Meiji period shodhana for £34,000.

A family row over a large collection of 17th century Chinese porcelain escalated this week after Art Fund trustee Caroline Butler hired Christie’s to value the collection.

Bridport saleroom Busby’s will offer ‘unseen’ works by members of the Bloomsbury group on October 20.

The Church of England has purchased the former home of Neales auction house in Nottingham.

Auctioneer, valuer and ‘Antiques Roadshow’ expert Michael Newman died last month, aged 80.

Kerry Taylor Auctions’ October sale will feature a wide range of antique lacework, from 17th century Italian needle lace to 19th century bridal veils and Brussels Point de Gaze flounces.

The sale of Leslie Waddington's art collection drew a lively crowd to Christie’s last night as friends and family of the late art dealer watched bidders competing for virtually every single lot on offer.

The Moët Hennessy-PAD London prize for best stand 2016 was split between two Mayfair galleries.

The murder of book dealer Adrian Greenwood was part of an attempt to steal a £50,000 first edition of the Wind in the Willows, a court has heard.