UK

Peter Bainbridge has confirmed to Antiques Trade Gazette that the Qianlong vase at the centre of a highly publicised payment dispute since November 2010 has finally been sold.

Clarion Events, owners of the ‘Antiques For Everyone Fairs’ in Birmingham, have announced that as of February 1 they will close their Birmingham office, thereby moving the management of the triannual fairs to the head office in London.

For the first time this year, ‘Master Paintings Week’ and ‘Master Drawings London’ will combine together under the new umbrella title of ‘London Art Week’ from June 28 to July 5.

Police are appealing to antique collectors and dealers to contact them if they have come into contact with some valuable pieces which were stolen during a burglary in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire.

Antiques traders in the Oxfordshire area are being urged to be on their guard after a theft at Burford Antiques Centre.

Consigned to Special Auction Services on the back of the £76,000 Märklin ‘first series’ tinplate toy HMS Terrible they sold from the Ron McCrindell collection in April 2012, this Märklin tinplate battleship Sachsen will be offered in Greenham, near Newbury, on January 31.

Created by the 20th century Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto, this Paimio seat, with a model no. of 41, is to be included in Sworders’ Decorative Art Sale on January 29 in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex.

The names Cartier and Paul Hubner of Augsburg guaranteed the quality of a lapel watch and parcel gilt cup, but their values were enhanced by the names of early 20th century celebrities when they were offered at a recent sale held by Sworders at Stansted Mountfitchet.

Getting the New Year off to a good start at Addisons of Barnard Castle, County Durham, a 20th century blue and white porcelain table screen by the renowned Chinese ceramic artist Wang Bu (1898-1968) improved upon an estimate of just £130-150 to sell for £34,300.

A fresh discovery of artefacts in a Staffordshire field where the famous 2009 hoard was found has been declared treasure and part of the hoard.

An early photographic album which has sold for a record-breaking £290,000 came into the hands of its first owner 140 years ago as a prize – for winning a pigeon-shooting competition.

The Bodleian Library has been given a £1.2m boost in its bid to raise £2.2m by the end of February to buy an important slice of photographic history.

Two metal detectorists have been given suspended jail sentences in what is being hailed as a landmark case for the Portable Antiquities Scheme. It is the first time that such a ruling has been made since the scheme, which was piloted in the 1990s, came fully into force in 2003.

Six pencil studies for The Days of Creation by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-98) carry an estimate of £150,000-250,000 at Bonhams’ 19th century art sale in New Bond Street on January 23.

Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood’s three-day fine art sale on January 29-31 in Exeter includes several photographs possibly taken by the founder of the Photographic Society, Roger Fenton (1819-69).

The first sale of the year for Woolley & Wallis’ jewellery department takes place on January 24 in Salisbury.

This Shirvan Marasali prayer rug is part of a private collection of Caucasian rugs consigned to Mallams’ sale in Oxford on January 23.

Shropshire auctioneers Halls’ new multi-million-pound headquarters and fine art salerooms will open for business on March 1 next year.

International and Collectors’ Fairs are going under cover – to launch a new fair to run four times next year.

The top lot at Ross’s sale in Belfast on December 5 was this painting ‘Ballyconneely Pony Show’ by Kenneth Webb (b.1927).