London

Three pieces of Victorian art from the Leverhulme collection will be offered at Sotheby’s in London later this year with a combined estimate of £9m-14m.

The competition for private sales among the leading auction rooms will step up during the coming weeks as both Sotheby’s and Christie’s hold exhibitions at their new private galleries in London.

The University of London is reported to have cancelled plans to auction off a rare set of four early Shakespeare folios to raise funds for further acquisitions.

A small painting bought as part of a £30 “job lot” at auction has turned out to be an original by the 19th century British artist John Constable and valued at £250,000.

With the Royal Academy opening a major show of Australian art in London on September 21, Christie’s will hope the added attention on this sector will yield benefit at their specialist sale being held in the Capital the week after.

Antiques traders in Portobello Market have been praised by police for their help in catching a vicious gang who have now been jailed for a string of terrifying robberies netting jewellery worth nearly £250,000.

Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions are to hold a pilot sale of Contemporary Chinese art in partnership with Yourun International (UK) Art Investment & Management Ltd, a London-based arts and cultural institution specialising in promoting emerging Chinese artists.

Croydon Council have approved the controversial sale of 24 pieces of Chinese ceramics.

Back in 1953, The London Silver Vaults opened on the site of the 1880s Chancery Lane Safe Deposit Company, where the great and the good (and no doubt not so good) of London stowed their valuables.

A development which means seven Mayfair art galleries will have to find new premises has been approved by planners.

A 1937 oil painting by LS Lowry which he made while on holiday in Scotland will be offered at Bonhams next sale of Modern British and Irish art in London on November 20.

A medal given to a remarkable sailor who was given the honour of conveying Napoleon to exile in Elba in 1813 as a reward for his daring exploits in the Royal Navy has made a record price.

As single disciplines go, English clocks are among the London summer fairs’ strongest suits.

While there were plenty of high-end clocks on offer in the London auction rooms and fairs over the summer season, Bonhams were the only house to offer dedicated clock sales.

At Dreweatts’ first stand-alone sale of jewellery in London this version of Salvador Dalí’s ‘The Eye Of Time’ (El Ojo Del Tempo) brooch sold for £75,000.

This week sees Sotheby’s staging their annual exhibition of work by the company’s employees, showcasing the artistic talents of over 60 members of staff.

Business is continuing to improve but the rate of recovery has slowed among London’s fine art dealers, their trade association’s latest survey reveals.

The most stunning price of London’s summer auction season came at Christie’s last week when the competition that emerged on ‘Love among the Ruins’ by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-98) was one of the strongest ever seen for a Victorian picture.

Mike Collins is to build on his success running Bermondsey Antiques Market by trialling a night antiques market during the summer.

Even in the collecting field of the ‘heroic age’ of Polar exploration where items reflecting incredible stories of human endurance seem to come thick and fast, there are still some that really take the breath away.