London

A near sell-out show at The Redfern Gallery in London in 1963 immediately established Patrick Procktor (1936-2003), the Dublin-born painter, as a star of the London art scene at the age of just 27.

A small but very successful section of a recent London sale offered a group of just eight lots related to the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-76.

Among a series of strong art sales reported from the recent LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair was an 18th century portrait of a lady offered by Jeremy Astfalck of The Old Corkscrew.

Banksy’s derisive portrayal of The House of Commons reduced to an assembly of primates achieved a record £8.5m (plus premium) in Sotheby’s Contemporary Art auction on October 3.

A missing Pugin parliamentary letter box has been returned to the Palace of Westminster more than 100 years after it disappeared.

An oil on panel of The Tower of Babel, 1604, by Abel Grimmer (1570-1618/19), offered at £1.35m by Johnny Van Haeften was one of the stand-out sales during last week’s host of London art and antique trade events.

Malcolm Davidson died recently at the age of 85. For many years he ran City Fine Arts in the heart of the financial district of London offering furniture and unusual items to those working in the Square Mile.

In a sale of Modern and Contemporary British art in south London, this undated work House and Trees below sold for a multi-estimate £5800.

A fine private collection amassed in the 1960s provided the base for the inaugural Russian Coins & Historical Medals sale held by Dix Noonan Webb (24% buyer’s premium).

Sold at Bonhams last week, the emerald in this Art Deco brooch is a clue to the remarkable life of its one-time owner Lady Hood.

A Régence period giltwood table attracted interest from across the trade, taking £52,000 (estimate £5000- 8000) at Lots Road Auctions (22% buyer’s premium).

London and Petworth dealer Timothy Langston Fine Art & Antiques has sold a portrait of the Regency period antiquarian Sir William Gell (1777-1836) to the British Museum.

Interest in glyphic art, which reached its collecting apogee during the Grand Tour collecting, is resurgent once more.

Coloured diamonds aside, rubies command higher prices per carat than any other gemstone. Graded using the traditional criteria of the four Cs (colour, cut, clarity and carat weight), they are also evaluated on the basis of geographic origin with the stones from Burma commanding the most interest.

Three Islamic and Indian art dealers have teamed up to launch an exhibition coinciding with the London auction event Islamic Week.

Mayfair show features 12 ‘seminal masterpieces’ first collected by Scottish baroness

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